When we are signing up for a product or service and get something for free – Does this excite you?
Let’s be honest – Yes it does 🙂 atleast to me.
Sometimes even we don’t consider if the product or service is genuine and we simply signup for it because we are getting something for free.
Let’s understand this by simple day to day examples.
We download a game or an app just to check if it is worth using. In exchange, we don’t hesitate to provide them access to our files, messages, camera etc.
You see a 50% discount going on for a brand and we think they are giving it away because they are generous 🙂
Well, they are cleaning up their old stock. This is not wrong but we tend to do mindless shopping. Even I do sometimes. 🙂
So I think there is nothing like a free app or discount offer.
I am taking another example because someone said Google is absolutely free 🙂
Let’s understand it. A company like Google runs on data. Their majority profit comes from advertisement. They read your thought by seeing browsing history and then showing you the relevant ads.
Now in order to make the ads more relevant, they collect your personal details in so many different ways.
Certainly, we are living in an era where we cannot completely avoid Google but we can be mindful while browsing.
A wise man said once you don’t need to know everything 🙂
I know people who open Google when they have nothing to do. That means they will start mindless browsing. I am not against Google since I am a Digital Marketing Consultant but yes I would still recommend mindful browsing.
Would you pay, £15 a month to use Google? I would say most of us will do but I am sure you will be more mindful while browsing 🙂
If you are interested to know – In the third quarter of 2020, Google’s revenue amounted to 46.02 billion U.S. dollars, up from nearly 38 billion U.S. dollars in the preceding quarter. Google’s main revenue source is advertising through Google sites and its network.
Another example is WhatsApp. There is a buzz going around about whether you should use WhatsApp or Signal Chat App.
So it is worth understanding this example. Do you really think there is a free social media app for download
WhatsApp was not completely free. They have announced – WhatsApp goes free, with an annual subscription fee of 99 cents after the first year. This was back in 2013 (Correct me If I am wrong about the year)
Now there is a lot going about WhatsApp and Signal and people started to download Signal App.
Because of the rising privacy concern with WhatsApp, Signal App has seen a surge in app download. Nearly 800,000 downloads happened last week. Do you really think Signal is a free social media app for download?
On the other hand, WhatsApp has seen a significant dip in app download and that’s why they released a privacy update.
Now the real question is whether we should use WhatsApp or Signal?
I will leave it to your discretion but I know one thing for sure nothing comes for free.
If you’re NOT paying for It, you become the product.
Hope you will do thorough research before downloading any app.