brand-e

Millions of Americans are on Twitter but they wouldn’t stump up a cent to use it, according to a Center For The Digital Future study on online behaviour.
Almost half Internet users surveyed said they have used free micro-blogs such as Twitter, but when asked if they would be willing to pay for it, no one said yes.
“Such an extreme finding that produced a zero response underscores the difficulty of getting Internet users to pay for anything that they already receive for free,” says Jeffrey Cole, director of the Center For The Digital Future at USC’s Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism.
“Twitter has no plans to charge its users, but this result illustrates, beyond any doubt, the tremendous problem of transforming free users into paying users. Online providers face major challenges to get customers to pay for services they now receive for free.”
Netizens aren’t particularly keen to shell out for anything online, in fact, with 55% of users said they would rather see advertising than pay for content.
“Users express strong negative views about online advertising, but they still prefer seeing ads as an alternative to paying for content,” says Cole. “Consumers really want free content without advertising, but ultimately they understand that content has to be paid for – one way or another.”
brand-e: not sure consumers yet understand the problem of free – much of what they won’t pay for won’t be available at some point