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Freebies ke din beete re bhaiya1


BY DEBASHISH CHAKRABARTY


Trying to access the radiomirchi website hosted at Indiatimes.com? You need to register first. Wish to earn a certification at Brainbench.com? Be ready to squander at least $20 per test. Want to read the latest issue of India Today, online? Search for your subscription number first, and if you are not a subscriber of the magazine, be content with the free content. 

Don’t panic man! This is how things are and this is how they are destined to be. The most persistent Internet myth that you can’t charge for content is slowly but surely being proven to be so, a myth. 

After the dotcom became dotgones things have gone for a revolutionary spin. Websites hitherto hesitant, to even think of charging for content, are happily trimming the premium portion of their site off from public eye. What haunts me more is the fact that charging for content belies the basic dictum of web, that information is free. Ironically, it does not fit inside the equation of business. I wonder how many websites have suddenly become adventurous enough to afford cutting their audience and lower the potential ad revenue.

In fact, two years after the dot-com mania had begun to fade that people realized that businesses don't exist without making money. In those golden all-for-free days, when things ranging from software to email to connectivity was promised free, guys thought they would recover their bucks from those fancy banner ads. While they spun intricate code to calculate and analyze who clicked on their advertisement how many times along with the whens and wheres, they ultimately discovered that few were actually clicking on them. Fortunately the venture capitalists hadn't pull the carpet beneath their feet yet.

Those who realised their folly, gradually tried to offer extras for value-added service at cost or discontinue the charity, those who didn't were forced to pull the plug. Usa.net stopped giving free e-mail and chose to become the back-end of amexmail, reserving the services for Amex-card holders. Yahoo has begun charging for POP3 access or mail forwarding and made the banners so big, they now cover almost the whole screen. Hotmail, too, has a value-added option, and both seem to be willing to move to a completely paid model. Closer home, Rediff is in a bid to sell a value-added e-mail package has literally burdened the free version with advertisements. Sun's StarOffice is paid software now and RedHat is on lookout for paying clients. Experts say that instant messaging could very well be the next martyr. 

Important question here is, will people pay for the content. It's not like reciting abracadabra to reach your reader's wallet without scaring him off. You should be able to present something truly worthwhile; something readers can profit from, and above all you have to market it effectively. It's easy to draw comparisons with other services we pay for everyday (like you got to pay toll-tax if you need better roads) but the truth is not many people (me included) are willing to pay for any service on Internet, because there are always other options available. If there is no mycgiserver.com there are always geocities.com and freeserver.com.

However I learnt that there is content that people pay for like advice and information on investment and databases of legal documents etc. Reportedly, the Wall Street Journal has succeeded with its online subscription model. Definitely there wouldn’t be many such examples.

As a matter of fact, we would have to slowly learn to pay for stuff because one fine day we would not be able to open our mailbox to read that important mail or our home page with those treasured family photographs goes off-air after the ignored warnings. That’s easier said than done. At least I am not keen on switching to the paid-model any sooner.

***

[1] A line parodied on a popular Hindi film song meaning:" The days of freebies are gone"..

Author's Note: This piece originally appeared in my column 'Reality Bytes' in issue dated 02 September 2002 of the Free Press Journal, an English daily published from Indore, India. 

©2002 Debashish Chakrabarty. The article can not be copied, distributed, excerpted, reviewed without the written permission of the author.

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