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Adding Fees To Social Networks
from the good-luck-with-that... dept
Okay, take an idea that's being done to death all over the internet for free - with new (sometimes deep pocketed) players showing up every day. Then, wait until the market is so saturated that most people are already getting sick of the idea... and then try to charge for it. That appears to be the plan of Tickle (formerly eMode) that is now going to try to start charging for some aspects of their "social network" Friendster-clone. Since they know they're the first, and they must know they're going to face backlash, they're only charging if you want to contact someone who is separated by more than four degrees from you - at which point, I wonder what the point of social networking is? If the idea is to meet friends of friends because they might have similar interests, what's the value in using such a system to meet a friend of a friend of a friend of a friend of a friend? Isn't that just a stranger? There are lots of ways to meet strangers online that don't cost money.
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patent
So have they tried to patent the idea of charging for something that was previously free?
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DOH!
So am I being charged to breath yet?
Maybe I can patent the use of vibrating vocal chords for the explicit use to create words?
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wow
I feel bad for emode. Because we at FriendFan.com will always be free!
Charging just kills the whole idea. It didn’t cost them anything to take the idea of social networking.
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Paying for Ryze
I pay for some extra functionality on Ryze - specifically, the ability to search for people by title.
I don't "get" the whole business of contacting distant friends, either. I just use these places to introduce myself/strike up a conversation with people who are otherwise strangers. Not only is it easier than doing so in person, more importantly it allows me to reach out to people across the nation. Even internationally. While I am looking for clients, there's no question its been a great way to meet interesting new people, particularly since we're located in a rural area.
The fee for this function in Ryze is low. $9 a month, nothing for a business fee. Wouldn't make much sense just to find "friends", though.
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