why most stuff on the internet free?

464 views

I mean I don’t want it to go. But basically everything physically you get is paid right. And you wouldn’t expect to work for someone for free. But how come you can get by very easily on the internet never paying for online services, except for getting the means to access it? How did the people in the early stages of the internet think it would be cool if most stuff was free and how could it be accepted by an overwhelming majority?

In: Technology

2 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

It isn’t free. What you are missing is how it is paid for. Instead of you paying a subscription to read from a website like mastubatorsanaonymous.com, you are the product/service that companies pay to put ads in front of. The content you are thinking of is not charge-to-view content, but the better the content (the stickier and more viewers that the non-charged content receives), the more advertisers with pay for space beside and between that content.

Just like you don’t pay to look at a billboard with a hooters chick on it, though you might really enjoy that; so you don’t pay to look at most websites, but someone pays to put up what you inadvertently look at.

Anonymous 0 Comments

First, the Internet started as a US government program used by military, engineers, and academics. So, it was a free way to exchange information.

Second, it has to do with how users behave. Would you rather pay for something or have it be free but with mostly-innocuous ads? Most people like free. In the competition of the marketplace, what most people want wins! A fee-for-service only works for the very top providers like the New York Times.