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WhatsApp introduces ads in its app

(www.nytimes.com)
713 points greenburger | 1 comments | 16 Jun 25 13:38 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
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mrtksn ◴[16 Jun 25 14:07 UTC] No.44289633[source]▶
Does anybody have stats on how many people are O.K. paying for their core services, i.e. how many people pay for paid personal e-mail services?

I just don't want to believe that our services have to be paid for through proxy by giving huge cut to 3rd parties. The quality goes down both as UX and as core content, our attention span is destroyed, our privacy is violated and our political power is being stolen as content gets curated by those who extract money by giving us the "free" services.

It's simply very inefficient. IMHO we should go back to pay for what you use, this can't go on forever. There must be way to turn everything into a paid service where you get what you paid for and have your lives enhanced instead of monetized by proxy.

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1. keybored ◴[17 Jun 25 17:20 UTC] No.44301446[source]▶
> It's simply very inefficient. IMHO we should go back to pay for what you use, this can't go on forever. There must be way to turn everything into a paid service where you get what you paid for and have your lives enhanced instead of monetized by proxy.

Can this corporate propaganda stop? Premises:

1. That we (the corporation) offer a free service is because people don’t wanna pay

2. Those freeloaders are costing us money

3. Eventually we have to introduce ads, shrugs we hate to do it but the freeloaders force our hands

Instead:

1. The strategy IS to be free to use

2. INVEST money in building the network effect

3. When a critical mass has been reached: MONETIZE

Where is the user’s preference in this? Nowhere. Why assume anything else? Why?

It is patently irrational for all parties to spend money (“pay for what you use”) on a buergoning social media platform:

- Business: why add any friction at all to a social media platform that you are supposed to grow?

- ... and why concede any talking points to the naive people who think that paid service equals no ads or monetized “attention” if you do both?

- Just monetize people instead

- User: why would anyone on God’s Green Earth pay to use a social media platform that was pay-to-use on day zero when there are no users?