Before you give that eye rolling ‘durr’ response, let’s take the below points into consideration.
In theory, yes, Social Media Applications (Apps) are free to use as most of them require no monthly subscription fee to access them. Although you do have to pay for Data and Wi-Fi bundles to actually view, use and consume the content, the real cost to accessing these ‘Free’ App’s is your personal information and attention, which in this case can be considered as a type of currency.
Your personal information* is valuable, and using a social app works as a contract that passes that currency forward. Your attention is your time and you know the saying; ‘time is money’, so the more attention you give to different Social Media apps the more money you spend.
It can be said that an App creator’s main goal is to attract people to use their app and to socialize in fun, different ways. The more time you spend, interest you show and effort you place into the App, the more App Creators can attract Advertisers to promote their products and services on these platforms. Currently, app’s such as Facebook, Instagram and YouTube are the best performing and most popular apps for advertisers across the board.
Till such time when people are willing to pay for monthly subscriptions, Social Media Applications will – in theory – remain free to use but will leverage off your time and interest to make a return. With that said, how are you spending your currency?
*By personal information, we’re referring to the email address, cell number, location or gender information that you willingly provide to stay up to date with various brands or news material. By Law this information cannot be sold without your permission.
