I mentioned the illusion of free at the beginning of this chapter, but as a term it is difficult to understand if one doesn’t know of the mindset behind the wave of free services, and of the gift-economy. So, that’s why we had to take the long way around to arrive at this point. The thoughts behind the wave of free
services and the gift economy are all very well in themselves, but they miss one central point:
Why is it so interesting to Homo Conexus to get free stuff?
As we can see from the Wikipedia example, social currency isn’t always gained by giving things away in the network society.
Wikipedia is also a good example that many people are still willing to pay for something they are happy with – even if they come from a culture of sharing. I dare say that the secret lies in the fact that Wikipedia isn’t really free... it just appears to be.
When you look something up on Wikipedia you first of all expect a Google-like convenience and fast response. If Wikipedia had a graphically heavy interface, which took forever to load, it wouldn’t be the big player in the network society that it is today. But you also expect that the seeking of information is free of charge. It is
“free” – but it isn’t.
To even get as far as being able to use free information services like Wikipedia, you must first have a computer.
How many times can you take a cab down to the local library for the amount of money a computer costs? You also need a broadband connection, and even though they are not as pricey as they used to be, it all adds up. The electricity that powers your venture in cyberspace also comes at a price. And finally you may be one of those who are willing to make a contribution to
Wikipedia, when they ask for it.
The fact is, you can’t use free services or software on the internet without hardware. And the hardware isn’t worth much without either free or paid-for software. And you wouldn’t have used the electricity you use to run your computer if you hadn’t used this software. Without the software your computer would make a very expensive door-stop. Or to put it differently: Even if you only use free services of free software on the internet, then you paid for the service you get all in all, anyway. The price you paid for the computer is really the price you’ve paid to use free software. Even if you’re irresponsible enough to get your music, films and TV illegally on the internet via Bittorrent or one of the other illegal clients, you still pay. Because, what else would you use your broadband connection for? Other free services?
And apart from the money you’ve paid for a door-stop which the free services and software turn into something useful, you also pay with your attention and time. As soon as you put yourself in a position where you’re being marketed to, you put yourself in the position of possibly making a purchase, which may result in your paying an additional cost for some product, because the power of advertising works!
You don’t feel that you pay when you use Google either. But you do – Google is financed by advertisements, and you sell your attention. Have you noticed that Google scans the content of your recently sent e-mail, so that when the recipient reads it, Google advertises products that are related to what you wrote?
The waiving of your right to privacy is the price for “free”
services. And add to that the share of your PC, power and internet budgets which are connected to your use of Google. No matter if it is commercials on the internet or on TV, then you risk your money, time and attention when you’re willing to receive
“free” entertainment and news, paid for by advertisements.
Remember, those advertisers pay a lot of money to get to you.
So you are in their sights constantly whenever you indulge in content financed by advertisements.
Oh yeah, TV – do you have cable? Or satellite? Not free either, is it? You need to dish out a decent lump sum every month just to be able to expose yourself to commercials. In the UK, the BBC charges a TV license fee from almost all UK citizens that is paid once a year and then forgotten about. Not exactly free either – but on an everyday basis it feels like it.
What Homo Conexus really wants isn’t free stuff but the illusion of free. It must feel free. It must an instant gratification with no payment process to slow down the experience. When the Brits pay the fee to the BBC they don’t think about it in the time in between. During that time watching TV is just free. Water costs so little, and is paid for so rarely, that the faucet seems like a free service. But it’s not. And if you think the water in the faucets in the public park is free, then look at your tax statement once again.
Homo Conexus has come into the world after a bill is no longer something that turns up in the mailbox, but is paid automatically through direct debit.Homo Conexus is used to having hundreds of channels to choose from on the TV, in return for a little sum that’s being paid every month, also automatically. Homo Conexus is used to the internet supplying all kinds of “free”
things all the time. If you need information, you need to pay for it only if you can’t find it on the internet. Communication must feel free too, which is one of the reasons that text messages became so popular with Homo Conexus – you didn’t need to worry about sending them off.
The text message example can be compared to micro-payments – that little payments are being made all the time, and therefore don’t make a big impact on the budget.
But there are also many examples of that not working.
If it were the size of the fee that was pivotal, then why would teenagers at the turn of the millennium gladly pay $4 for a ring tone, while they wouldn’t pay $1 for a song at a legal MP3 store?
Because the convenient availability of the ring tone was
fundamental. When you sent a text message ordering a ring tone, you don’t feel like you pay. As mentioned before, the music futurist Gerd Leonhard has compared the future need for music with that of faucets: You just need to be able to turn the music on, and think no-more of it.
That’s the reason the illegal music services have always beaten the legal paid-for services. You just had to turn the handle and let the music run. The music industry was the first to take a serious hit from the new consumer habits. But after stumbling along for much of a decade, they got it right. They understood that convenience is more important than price, and that the real reason for all the piracy was all about instant gratification. For anyone who is having trouble marketing and selling products to Homo Conexus, there’s a very valuable lesson in what happened to the music industry. The film industry is going through the same motions now, and books may be next.
So maybe it would be a good idea to take a closer look at what happened when people stopped paying for music.