Two Kinds of Free Media

There are two kinds of free media.

They mean entirely different things.

Free media #1: Facebook is free to signup and use. You’re not charged for signing up, uploading your photos and interests, or sharing things with your friends, because advertisers are charged because you signed up, uploaded your photos and interests, and share things with your friends.

The information isn’t yours. It’s theirs. That’s the trade. A trade isn’t free. It’s a trade.

Free media #2: Open mediums such as email newsletters and podcasts can be created using any software (or sent directly), circulated in any directories (or directly), and everyone gets to choose their own (different) ways of interacting with it.

The information is yours, but creators often need monetary support to create. That’s the trade. A trade isn’t free. It’s a trade.

The post title said there are two types of free media. There’s actually none, on closer inspection.

But we get to choose what kind of trade we want to make.