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Yes it is. My feeling is that we have entered an age that youth is not naive anymore and would happily pay $3/month (at least in the US) for a non-tracking all

Yes it is. My feeling is that we have entered an age that youth is not naive anymore and would happily pay $3/month (at least in the US) for a non-tracking all-round communication service.

appetizer 9y ago
SIKE!
eightysixfour 9y ago
Just asked my teenage siblings and both of them responded that they don't care that they are tracked and aren't sure why they'd pay. Only an anecdote, but there you go.
- sfilargi 9y ago
  Maybe it is just wishful thinking on my part then :D
  - ReverseCold 9y ago
    Yeah, as someone in that age range, none of my friends particularly care if some company has all their information and is doing whatever with it. As long as no one else they know sees...
  - j2bax 9y ago
    Mine too, believe me! My idea is to allow a group to contribute to cover a certain amount per year for their entire network, depending on the size of it. $50.00 split by 15-20 family/friend members would be pretty affordable. I would say a smaller more intimate network would be a major step in the right direction.
phailhaus 9y ago
I'm afraid there's not much to suggest that's the case.
eropple 9y ago
I'm pretty skeptical of this claim. The barrier from $0.00 to $0.01 is huge, and it's even moreso with people young enough to not have credit cards. It's not that "oh, if it'd succeed someone would have done it by now," but the attempts I've seen at this make me think that it'd be very difficult to even try.
- sfilargi 9y ago
  I am sure that $3/month wouldn't be a financial problem for the majority of Harvard students, but I agree with the first part of your argument. We have yet to learne to pay for nice things on the internet.
  - eropple 9y ago
    It's not Harvard students you need. There aren't that many of them and they already have their own social networks. You need to market to middle- and high-schoolers. Because by the time they're in college and could afford $3/month, they've already got outlets. Network effects are king.
  - RhysU 9y ago
    When the time comes that I can't avoid them using something, as a parent I would pay $3/month for my kids.
macspoofing 9y ago
>My feeling is that we have entered an age that youth is not naive anymore and would happily pay $3/month Are you joking? When I was a broke student there was zero chance I would sign-up for a monthly subscription service. It's a pipe dream.
Broken_Hippo 9y ago
The youth - under 18 - may or may not have a problem with it. However, they also can't readily do the actual payment portion of the deal and would have to buy a gift card or ask their parents - and their parents may object, especially if they are poor.
dragonwriter 9y ago
> My feeling is that we have entered an age that youth is not naive anymore and would happily pay $3/month (at least in the US) for a non-tracking all-round communication service. Probably not, but there just might be enough, youth (or people just out of the edge of that category with contacts inside of it) that will pay $10/month for such a service plus the privilege of sponsoring 9 of their friends with free accounts. Who, would of course have the option of upgrading to paid, getting their own 9 giveaway accounts, and returning the giveaway account to their sponsor. Which, sure, might be as little as $1/user/mo., rather than $3.
sitkack 9y ago
Do what Whatsapp did, free for the first year, then something really really low, but covers the cost of servers and headcount. Done right, this is probably around 0.50-1 a month for a really high quality service.

Yes it is. My feeling is that we have entered an age that youth is not naive anymore and would happily pay $3/month (at least in the US) for a non-tracking all-round communication service.

appetizer 9y ago

SIKE!

eightysixfour 9y ago

Just asked my teenage siblings and both of them responded that they don't care that they are tracked and aren't sure why they'd pay. Only an anecdote, but there you go.

sfilargi 9y ago
Maybe it is just wishful thinking on my part then :D
- ReverseCold 9y ago
  Yeah, as someone in that age range, none of my friends particularly care if some company has all their information and is doing whatever with it. As long as no one else they know sees...
- j2bax 9y ago
  Mine too, believe me! My idea is to allow a group to contribute to cover a certain amount per year for their entire network, depending on the size of it. $50.00 split by 15-20 family/friend members would be pretty affordable. I would say a smaller more intimate network would be a major step in the right direction.

phailhaus 9y ago

I'm afraid there's not much to suggest that's the case.

eropple 9y ago

I'm pretty skeptical of this claim. The barrier from $0.00 to $0.01 is huge, and it's even moreso with people young enough to not have credit cards. It's not that "oh, if it'd succeed someone would have done it by now," but the attempts I've seen at this make me think that it'd be very difficult to even try.

sfilargi 9y ago
I am sure that $3/month wouldn't be a financial problem for the majority of Harvard students, but I agree with the first part of your argument. We have yet to learne to pay for nice things on the internet.
- eropple 9y ago
  It's not Harvard students you need. There aren't that many of them and they already have their own social networks. You need to market to middle- and high-schoolers. Because by the time they're in college and could afford $3/month, they've already got outlets. Network effects are king.
- RhysU 9y ago
  When the time comes that I can't avoid them using something, as a parent I would pay $3/month for my kids.

macspoofing 9y ago

>My feeling is that we have entered an age that youth is not naive anymore and would happily pay $3/month Are you joking? When I was a broke student there was zero chance I would sign-up for a monthly subscription service. It's a pipe dream.

Broken_Hippo 9y ago

The youth - under 18 - may or may not have a problem with it. However, they also can't readily do the actual payment portion of the deal and would have to buy a gift card or ask their parents - and their parents may object, especially if they are poor.

dragonwriter 9y ago

> My feeling is that we have entered an age that youth is not naive anymore and would happily pay $3/month (at least in the US) for a non-tracking all-round communication service. Probably not, but there just might be enough, youth (or people just out of the edge of that category with contacts inside of it) that will pay $10/month for such a service plus the privilege of sponsoring 9 of their friends with free accounts. Who, would of course have the option of upgrading to paid, getting their own 9 giveaway accounts, and returning the giveaway account to their sponsor. Which, sure, might be as little as $1/user/mo., rather than $3.

sitkack 9y ago

Do what Whatsapp did, free for the first year, then something really really low, but covers the cost of servers and headcount. Done right, this is probably around 0.50-1 a month for a really high quality service.