The free things are the most expensive!

[UTON Blockchain]

Google and TikTok may seem free, but every click and scroll you make gets packaged into a "user profile" and sold to advertisers. Take Facebook, for example—it makes about $50 per user per year just from their data. In the internet age, if you're not paying for the product, you are the product.

[Spaceman1000$]

Google and TikTok may seem free, but every click and scroll you make gets packaged into a "user profile" and sold to advertisers. Take Facebook, for example—it makes about $50 per user per year just from their data. In the internet age, if you're not paying for the product, you are the product.

In the context of the phrase " the free things are the most expensive" I would have thought you will be talking about, water, air, oxygen and the rest of the free things God created for mankind. However in addressing the free things you listed, they are basically not free, these are people's businesses you mentored, for you to use their facility, you have to pay for it, those apps were not invented from the beginning to be use on free bases, for the inventor to build it and put it on the app store, he definitely paid for it to be there, so you the end user too will have to pay for it.

[Hewlet]

Google and TikTok may seem free, but every click and scroll you make gets packaged into a "user profile" and sold to advertisers. Take Facebook, for example—it makes about $50 per user per year just from their data. In the internet age, if you're not paying for the product, you are the product.

do people really care much on how there data is being used? people visits the different social media platforms for different reason and the least of their concern is to consider how much platforms like Facebook, twitter or tiktok makes off their data per year. there is nothing even wrong if you are considered the product in the context of the usage of social media users data for the gains of the owner of the platform. it is a two way thing, you enjoy the things you see on the platform and maybe share your own content while you are being paid for the content while the owners of the platform on the other receiving end get their own royalty.

it is all business in the end and that is the reason why you should never waste your time on social media if you are not earning from it or at least using it to market something or use it to do something that gets you paid. in a digital age like ours, everyone ought to have the ability to also benefit from these platforms and not just register with them just to make the numbers.

[Reatim]

Google and TikTok may seem free, but every click and scroll you make gets packaged into a "user profile" and sold to advertisers. Take Facebook, for example—it makes about $50 per user per year just from their data. In the internet age, if you're not paying for the product, you are the product.

yeah it’s “free” but really you are paying with it with your data and your continuous use of these platforms is what pays their bills you just don’t notice it because you are using it to your benefits so it seems free but in reality almost nothing is free anymore these days

so many things that we don’t notice for example ads that are shown to us may seem nothing to you but may actually affect you a lot heavier than you think

[Jawhead999]

Many people also make money from these sites, they become content creators and people click their referral links. So it's actually a win-win situation for both of them.

Now the question is for people who're not make money from it, well people are forced because most people don't care with privacy. There are few privacy oriented sites like Nostr, 0xchat, Gossip etc we can use to get rid from social medias and chatting apps.

But, they will use the more adopted one than migrated to new apps.

[Yucky]

In the context of the phrase " the free things are the most expensive" I would have thought you will be talking about, water, air, oxygen and the rest of the free things God created for mankind. However in addressing the free things you listed, they are basically not free, these are people's businesses you mentored, for you to use their facility, you have to pay for it, those apps were not invented from the beginning to be use on free bases, for the inventor to build it and put it on the app store, he definitely paid for it to be there, so you the end user too will have to pay for it.

Same here, when I heard that free things are the most expensive, my mind just went to natural resources that we don't pay for, but we use every minute, like oxygen. You know, they say you won't appreciate what you have till you have to pay for it to get it. people that are in the hospital and they have to use oxygen, when you think about the amount they pay per hour for oxygen. When you breathe, you will just thank your creator.

Buy for social media, but then I can't  call it free things, if I have to buy data to access it, it's not free, because you already used money to get internet service to access it. The moment I enter these apps and my data is going, the money is somehow going to the creators that entertain me or educate me, whatever I'm doing on social media. So that's just how it works. The social medias are not really free if you must access them with data.

[avikz]

Google and TikTok may seem free, but every click and scroll you make gets packaged into a "user profile" and sold to advertisers. Take Facebook, for example—it makes about $50 per user per year just from their data. In the internet age, if you're not paying for the product, you are the product.

Say something which people don't know already. Just think of a very basic of business. Why would someone allow you to use anything for free? Isn't it a bad business?

Also it's not only Facebook or Tiktok. Every single social media platform does this. Every single search engine does this. Even ecommerce websites like Amazon follows this practice.

It is also a good practice for them so that they can show you something of your interest which bring them more sells and thus more revenue and profit.

[dunfida]

Google and TikTok may seem free, but every click and scroll you make gets packaged into a "user profile" and sold to advertisers. Take Facebook, for example—it makes about $50 per user per year just from their data. In the internet age, if you're not paying for the product, you are the product.

Say something which people don't know already. Just think of a very basic of business. Why would someone allow you to use anything for free? Isn't it a bad business?

Also it's not only Facebook or Tiktok. Every single social media platform does this. Every single search engine does this. Even ecommerce websites like Amazon follows this practice.

It is also a good practice for them so that they can show you something of your interest which bring them more sells and thus more revenue and profit.

Using up your own common sense will really be that telling you that they wont be building up something for free or they cant be able to benefit from. Just like on what most people been saying on here that there's no such thing about free on this world on which they wont really be just that wasting up their time and resources if they wont really be able to get something. This is why it will be that understandable that there's always that in exchange into the services that we are getting on which just like on what we do have here about Facebook then its common sense on where this company is making money into. people are really just that ignoring it out or simply doesnt put up attention too much.

Its normal that we wont really be that thinking up that much as long we do make use of it and since these services are really that making up connections into other people and as long as its free and wont be charged up then its just fine. They are making money on the other way around but actually its none of our business on how they do make money and it will be better that we should focus on our own rather than on thinking up always on how these companies do make money. There's nothing that you can do about it.

[coin-investor]

Google and TikTok may seem free, but every click and scroll you make gets packaged into a "user profile" and sold to advertisers. Take Facebook, for example—it makes about $50 per user per year just from their data. In the internet age, if you're not paying for the product, you are the product.

This is a wrong use of a title. You are generalizing free things as the most expensive when you are only discussing one subject, so how come?
Why not change it to something like some free things on the internet are expensive?
I prefer the social media settings; instead of paying to have a chat with friends, I can ignore all the ads and just use the features. You allow yourself to be the product because you are taking the bait of these advertisers; just ignore them and just socialize.

[Roseline492]

Google and TikTok may seem free, but every click and scroll you make gets packaged into a "user profile" and sold to advertisers. Take Facebook, for example—it makes about $50 per user per year just from their data. In the internet age, if you're not paying for the product, you are the product.

This is a wrong use of a title. You are generalizing free things as the most expensive when you are only discussing one subject, so how come?
Why not change it to something like some free things on the internet are expensive?
I prefer the social media settings; instead of paying to have a chat with friends, I can ignore all the ads and just use the features. You allow yourself to be the product because you are taking the bait of these advertisers; just ignore them and just socialize.

Is indeed a wrong use because he cannot tell us that he has not receive any free thing even if is an ordinary gift that resulted him to pay at the end, so actually this is were a lot of people make mistakes trying to explain something,  however the TikTok and Facebook he is explaining is not even something people are not aware they are paying money in another form. Though even if you ignore all the adds or chat with friends they will still get from the little time you have spend on the app, so actually it doesn't matter what you are doing on the media so long as your data subscription is on they are getting something from you.

[NeuroticFish]

Google and TikTok may seem free, but every click and scroll you make gets packaged into a "user profile" and sold to advertisers. Take Facebook, for example—it makes about $50 per user per year just from their data. In the internet age, if you're not paying for the product, you are the product.

Your title is greatly misleading, as many already pointed it out.

Then, social media is meant to keep you hooked so you spend a lot of time with it (and, maybe you didn't know, time is the most precious "thing" you'll ever have, hence making them indeed very expensive).

About harvesting your data... well, that already happens on large (and ever increasing) scale since before Google and Facebook were created. Of course, now it's much worse, now the data is also sold on large scale... and now people started becoming aware of what is happening to them.

This being said, your post didn't say anything new. Even the line "if you're not paying for the product, you are the product" is copied from others.

[Barrykbest]

Yea, especially in our present society with advance technology like the AI and data science some service might not have monetary value but the user data and information serves as exchange which are used to train differs AI models. For instance, our most used social media platform Facebook, it usage is free but it operates in a model where user data is exchanged for access to the platform, this information is used to create targeted advertisements which is the key aspect of Facebook revenue strategy.

[slapper]

People do really enjoy "free." Free applications, free entertainment, free convenience. Actually, though, nothing is really free. Instead of money, what is being traded is control. Every action, every like, every stop on a video creates a profile companies market for billions of dollars. You are an input not a client. Facebook makes fifty bucks off of you annually? That is only the top surface. Your predictability, your awareness, your routines, that is the actual asset

People believe they still have options. They don't. Their training comes from the internet. It organizes their ideas, advises what to purchase, what to consider, what to trust. It is simply the way the system operates; it is not even a conspiracy. As you interact with it, you feed it. You miss access to the largest economy on Earth if you disconnect. Both ways, there is a cost. Do you really know what you are paying for?

[qurbanshah02]

Google and TikTok may seem free, but every click and scroll you make gets packaged into a "user profile" and sold to advertisers. Take Facebook, for example—it makes about $50 per user per year just from their data. In the internet age, if you're not paying for the product, you are the product.

They are currently the most free but also earn more money because they are working at a very high quality and level.  By passing our time they will get a lot of profit by which we will waste our time. You are absolutely right if we don't use them then we are the product for the app.  Therefore, they will benefit and we will also benefit, so we have to do something by which we can earn some money and not waste our time and learn work, which is the biggest benefit for us.

[sunsilk]

Google and TikTok may seem free, but every click and scroll you make gets packaged into a "user profile" and sold to advertisers. Take Facebook, for example—it makes about $50 per user per year just from their data. In the internet age, if you're not paying for the product, you are the product.

That's right, that's the business of social media. Everyone needs to remember that when something is free, we become the product.

But in all that means, the service they provide to us should be the exchange for it. So, you don't go all in with the information that everything we have specially the confidential ones.

At the same time, it has given opportunities to millions of people that can work under the platform and as well as using these platforms for business matters.

[MiF]

Google and TikTok may seem free, but every click and scroll you make gets packaged into a "user profile" and sold to advertisers. Take Facebook, for example—it makes about $50 per user per year just from their data. In the internet age, if you're not paying for the product, you are the product.

I think no one will build a kind of business to make it free to others maybe they had another ways of earnings that simple people or user cannot understand, however google and tiktok is very useful it can also make profit and it helps a lot from our daily living through extending news from one place to another, we can search everything and it will appears very accurate.

[Fortify]

Google and TikTok may seem free, but every click and scroll you make gets packaged into a "user profile" and sold to advertisers. Take Facebook, for example—it makes about $50 per user per year just from their data. In the internet age, if you're not paying for the product, you are the product.

The reality is most people would happily make this trade. I remember tiktok offering people $10 or so per sign up a few years ago which got a lot of traction. Many people don't actually mind if their data is used in this trade, some might actually find they get useful adverts based on this data as well. An easy way to avoid the monetisation is to install things like as blockers so you won't see them anyway. It's quite possible to ignore the adverts from certain sites, you know where they are positioned most of the time and can almost zone them out. The companies are actually giving quite a good offering for free.

[mindrust]

You don’t have to use google and facebook. Nobody is forcing you to use those platforms. I also don’t use Facebook particularly because I don’t find it useful at all. Google though, offers some nice products and there isn’t a better alternative. Also many people use these platforms to advertise their own businesses. By using facebook and google they reach thousands of potential customers via ads. If you have a business facebook and instagram are nice places to sell your products.

[passwordnow]

Nobody is forcing you to use those platforms.

This is true but wherever the crowd is, we're also going there. We just can't stop using them when we're hooked on it. These platforms keep on developing and they're the best to advertise products and services and that's why they earn more from them. With free usage, the innocent users don't really know that they're the products that are being sold to the advertisers because they get nothing from it. While those subscription-based platforms, we cannot also be sure if they're not selling our data to wherever we think of.

[BALIK]

Google and TikTok may seem free, but every click and scroll you make gets packaged into a "user profile" and sold to advertisers. Take Facebook, for example—it makes about $50 per user per year just from their data. In the internet age, if you're not paying for the product, you are the product.

The reality is most people would happily make this trade. I remember tiktok offering people $10 or so per sign up a few years ago which got a lot of traction. Many people don't actually mind if their data is used in this trade, some might actually find they get useful adverts based on this data as well. An easy way to avoid the monetisation is to install things like as blockers so you won't see them anyway. It's quite possible to ignore the adverts from certain sites, you know where they are positioned most of the time and can almost zone them out. The companies are actually giving quite a good offering for free.

When you are just a normal user, you will see them taking more from you than what you get from them. But if you are a business, you will see how useful social media can be for your business. Even individuals, if they know how to take advantage and exploit, they can earn a lot of money through these social networking platforms. There are many youtubers, tiktokers earning thousands of dollars per month from their short videos, is it worth trading?

Many people are always afraid that their data and information will be exposed and exploited when using social networks. But honestly, are we sure our information will not be exposed if we do not use these social networks?