Pay for Social Media?

USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism has published a study where they analyzed the impact that the web is for Americans and among the nearly 200 study subjects who are taking up so one of them is the issue of Internet users would pay for social media .

Most do not want to pay . For example, the study found that 49 % of those surveyed have used the free micro blogs Facebook and Twitter but zero percent said they were willing to pay to use them .

The question was , " Would you pay to use Twitter if it took a charge ? " .

" With such an extreme conclusion , that 0 % would be willing to pay for these services , underlines the difficulty of getting Internet users to pay for something they already get for free " says Jeffrey I. Cole, Director of Center for Digital Future at the school .

" Twitter has no plans to charge its users , but this result shows , beyond doubt , the enormous problem of converting ' free ' users to paying users , "says Cole . " Online providers face significant challenges in order to get customers to pay for services they now receive for free. "

This is obviously an obstacle especially newspaper publishers hope to overcome . Last week , were reported the News Corp 's The Times visits fell to one third of what the number was before they started charging their readers .

" Internet users can access content in three ways : they can steal it , or pay for it , or accept advertising on Web pages they read , "says Cole . "users express strong negative opinions about online advertising , but they still prefer to see ads as an alternative to paying for content . Consumers want free content without advertising , but in the end they still understand that the content must be paid for - in one way or another .