Comments on: Open Thread: Paying for Web 2.0

By: Wayne

Wayne — Mon, 12 May 2008 21:17:09 +0000

Thanks for this posting. Our company has recently posted a blog entry entitled "Are you ready for online project collaboration?" which addresses some of the drawbacks of using free Web 2.0 tools. Although we haven't done any detailed analysis I would have to say that the age old saying of "you get what you pay for" applies to Web 2.0 as well many other aspects of our economy. People who use social networking sites don't seem to tolerate paying for these services, while people who use online tools (to help them run their businesses) like Joint Contact are willing to pay a small fee for the use of the service. I certainly don't have anything against using social networking applications, but it's obvious that people would pay for them if it meant that it would have measurable impact on the daily activities - either for use at home or in the workplace.

By: Jim Wolff

Jim Wolff — Mon, 12 May 2008 16:01:27 +0000

I pay for Basecamp (this seems to be a theme – they must’ve cracked something) but nothing much else. I’d probably pay for access to sustainable web work tho – anyone else?

By: Kevin

Kevin — Sat, 10 May 2008 17:56:07 +0000

We used to pay for Basecamp when we were doing more client work. Would pay for gmail (google apps for my domain) and google analytics.

By: Steve

Steve — Sat, 10 May 2008 16:35:16 +0000

I’m paying for pop3 access to Yahoo now & I’m getting ready to pay for online storage.

As far as news info is concerned (including podcasts), I’m more interested in more relevant ads than subscribing to paid services.

By: Nidia

Nidia — Sat, 10 May 2008 14:07:16 +0000

The only thing I would pay for is stock photos and gmail. I think free things in life are always appreciated. Sure, sooner or later some free services may be gone or have a small fee for us to use.

By: Marcin Grodzicki

Marcin Grodzicki — Sat, 10 May 2008 08:36:25 +0000

Google Apps (Currently too expensive in the pay-for option in my opinion), RememberTheMilk (I will, even if there’s no bonus in it for me right now)

By: rolltimer

rolltimer — Sat, 10 May 2008 03:00:31 +0000

Grand Central with some added features like scheduling the receiving of calls to different phone numbers or to voicemail based on the time of day and days of the week.

By: Amie Gillingham

Amie Gillingham — Fri, 09 May 2008 20:38:13 +0000

I already pay for Flickr, have a permanent paid account on Live Journal for my private personal blog that’s just for fun, and I’d pay for the for-fee service (online art sharing and artist networking)we run for a living if it was someone else’s company. As to what’s currently totally free but for which I’d pony up cash, I’d say a pro-version of Twitter in a heartbeat.

By: Dennis G

Dennis G — Fri, 09 May 2008 19:26:51 +0000

Funny thing is that I was thinking about what I actually am paying for.
Complete list here: Link

Cheers

Dennis

By: Jon Moss

Jon Moss — Fri, 09 May 2008 19:02:22 +0000

Good post! I would pay for:

- Gmail
- Google Reader

Already paying for Basecamp, Highrise, Backpack, Shopify and a couple of others.