actuallymentor
commented
4 years ago I'm in favor of freemium. E.g. full nutshell history is paid, adding pictures or audio is premium etc.
Let's keep this discussion going, but it is unlikely to be relevant in the coming 6-24 months.
As we are all capitalist pigs, money will need to be made. Several options for profit generation are detailed below.
1. No revenue streams
Become saints and connect the world for free.
2. Donations
Wikipedia-like ask for donations from users. Very friendly and likable, but not very profitable.
3. Membership only
Force users to pay to access our service.
4. Membership exclusives
Develop additional functionality that is only available to paying members. This could be as simple as posting made only available to paying members.
5. Advertisements
Unobtrusive advertisements could also work. Important that these not destroy the flow and feel of the product.
6. Paid corporate accounts
No advertisements, but corporations are allowed to create their own accounts under the same restrictions as regular users. Users can then voluntarily choose to follow them, and the companies will pay per user that follows them. Perhaps company page suggestions can be made to users, but this should remain unobtrusive.