> Our relationship with the web is going to be undergoing a fundamental shift over the next decade, I suspect, because it *has* to undergo a shift. Historically, we’ve paid for television, movies, books, and magazines, and in many cases we pay for those things even when they contain ads—and we pay a premium for magazines and TV shows that are ad-free. But apparently we believe that when you Just Add Internet, only greedy people would keep asking for money, because everything is subsidized by magical money-shitting ponies.
via [chipotle.tumblr.com](http://chipotle.tumblr.com/post/9645600552/twitter-adds-more-ads-to-timelines)
I’m fine with services that either present ads or have a subscription fee for no ads. I’m even fine with services that have a fee AND have ads. I can choose to buy into these services or not.
What I can’t stand is the Silicon Valley startup mentality of “get lots of users and then figure out how to make money on them later.”
It’s not like Twitter didn’t know the time would come when it needed to make money from its users. It’s just a little bit sleazy to lure people into a free ride, only to pull the rug out from under them later with ads. That’s what will piss off the users. Not the money. The lie.
I understand this is M.O for most of the Internet. But THAT’s the thing that needs to change. This notion that you should get popular first, then profitable second. The idea that once people are hooked on something, they’ll start paying because they have to. It’s bad business.
