[JKCalhoun]

Yes, if Facebook goes away due to lack of ads and no paid subscribers it means it simply was not worth paying for in enough people's minds.

Imagine that your entire business is only appealing to people if it is free.

I mean a lot of crappy 70's sitcoms would not exist if people had to buy tickets to watch. Honestly, I would not mind that world. :-)

[jfengel]

It seems that the news is only appealing to people when it's free. In part that's because it's competing with a lot of other things that are free -- including "news" subsidized by those who want to influence what news you consume.

People really like free. When it's there, it will tend to suck the air out of almost everything else. Including things that are almost-but-not-quite-free.

[JKCalhoun]

Yeah, I admit news might be the exception here.