Web2.0 won't be free for much longer
Free Web 2.0 services abound. From flickr to Twitter, from Gliffy to delicious. Many of us have come to completely depend on them for our daily workflow. But today, one of them, SproutBuilder, announced that it would no longer be free (or even have a free level of service.)
Of course, these web services cost money to run. They have servers to keep going, staff, developers, and the like. In this economy, raising money for a business with no revenue stream must be trying. Business credit has dried up. Venture capital isn't flowing. And hopes of acquisition in this kind of climate must be dimming.
So what does this mean for nonprofit organizations that depend on these services? Some of these services have already started monetizing a while ago. More will, like SproutBuilder. It means dropping free plans, or creating free plans that include less resources (accounts, storage space, etc.) than you need. It means advertising, and increasing intrusion of ads (or the need to pay for services without advertising.) It also probably means that a lot of them are going to start going under.
So, have backup plans, and have backups!
Of course, these web services cost money to run. They have servers to keep going, staff, developers, and the like. In this economy, raising money for a business with no revenue stream must be trying. Business credit has dried up. Venture capital isn't flowing. And hopes of acquisition in this kind of climate must be dimming.
So what does this mean for nonprofit organizations that depend on these services? Some of these services have already started monetizing a while ago. More will, like SproutBuilder. It means dropping free plans, or creating free plans that include less resources (accounts, storage space, etc.) than you need. It means advertising, and increasing intrusion of ads (or the need to pay for services without advertising.) It also probably means that a lot of them are going to start going under.
So, have backup plans, and have backups!
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6 Comments:
Its important to note from the FAQ that they will have special discounts for nonprofits and educational bodies. I have an email in to them asking what it will be based on and how much...
At least one source, Mashable , talked with Sproutbuilder founder Carnet Williams today and it says that nonprofit accounts will be free. I dearly hope so because I am very much a fan of what nonprofits have done and can do with easy access to widget building technology.
Carnet is a long time friend of the nonprofit technology community, so that would make a lot of sense.
I'm sure that some of the soon-to-be-monetized Web 2.0 services will also have nonprofit discounts, or free nonprofit accounts. But I don't think we should bet that they all will.
(I'm such a curmudgeon, aren't I?)
Michelle,
Not at all and in no way does this counter your point to plan ahead for well, um, failure of free online services. In fact I should have seconded that in my comment!
As you say belts are tightening and the versions available for free/low cost to nonprofits may not have the feature set and support that they really need to for them to be worth using for organizations.
If it's worth your time to use, it's probably worth paying a reasonable market rate for. If it's not worth paying for, it's probably not worth your time.
Michelle and Heather,
We are doing our best to provide Sprout free or at a highly discounted rate to NPOs. Meaning if you are a small nonprofit and not using a ton of our bandwidth, most likely free. If you are a large NGO with tons of traffic, we will discount the rate so we cover our COGs.
Michelle... you know I am going to do my best to make this type of powerful tool available to social change organizations... as long as I can keep my lights on.
Thanks for the response Carnet, I am really glad to hear that you are working on keeping this available for small groups on tight budgets.
And Jon, I agree that great products like Sproutbuilder are worth paying for and with the various blog posts here on Idealware that nonprofits shouldn't be in the mind set to get everything for free.
Its just that some wonderful groups can't afford even discount rates, but still have a great mission and message that could reach many allies with free access to technologies like a simple version of Sproutbuilder.
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