Sources in Order of Use:
perplexity.ai
Prompt: Why do some companies start by offering free services, later move to revenue and later try to control the user
Perplexity responded, freemium, an entity that offers basic free services at initial launch is only attempting to get as many users as possible. This seems like a given to me. The Ai then responded that the second phase is to introduce moving some free features to paid features, which causes user friction. It's not enough friction to get users to stop using the service. This second response uses the term, negative option, due to free trials introduced. At this point the organization is starting to maximize something of value whether it's for profit or social capital. The new user is enticed to start a trial and the organization hopes the user never cancels the trial.
A final stage per the Ai is the organization trying to tie as many services as possible together to persuade the user to not leave the organization's digital eco system. Additionally, what Perplexity terms as dark patterns begin, which includes confusing cancellation breadcrumbs, introducing various channels of advertising for profit increase.
Perplexity replied that the final stage has reasons for the negative user experiences. They are investor pressure, competition and economics particularly of digital products needing as many users as possible.
I next went to Wikipedia, "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enshittification", to look up the term enshitification I've heard lately. Wikipedia credits Cory Doctorow for the terms conception.
"Enshittification, also known as crapification and platform decay, is a process in which two-sided online products and services decline in quality over time. Initially, vendors create high-quality offerings to attract users, then they degrade those offerings to better serve business customers, and finally degrade their services to both users and business customers to maximize short-term.
I then searched YouTube with the prompt I used for Perplexity.ai. The results were many videos bragging on how to grow a business quickly. I scrolled about twenty videos and decided YouTube had no quick return of information.
Wrapping up search sources, I searched the original prompt again in Google. I received several links regarding freemium and why launching software companies should offer free services.
Me
I have begun searching the topic to understand why it exists. I also am wondering if open source software programs are a long-term goof for dreamers or if it should be considered a charity? Well, really at my core for asking is data flow whether digital or analog. I mean data flow in the simplest of terms as well. Data goes into a hammer to be made. I am now getting into weeds or confusion. What compels some to seek profit of capital and others to seek social capital?
