A few years ago, the director of the American magazineWired, an oracle for lovers of technology and new internet trends, wrote the bookThe long tail-The long tail- from an article of his that bore the same title. It became a best seller, a kind of Da Vinci Code of digital literature. Chris Anderson said there that the network was changing the way of doing business, because now any company could reach customers around the globe. Now, Anderson has just put an end to Free -Free-, where he says that if you want to succeed, you have to offer products and services at zero cost. Google has done it and is a billionaire. To lead by example, his essay, which will be published next July, will not be worth a penny if the user downloads the digital version for the Kindle e-book – marketed by the online bookstore Amazon – or for the iPhone; it is downloaded as an audio file or simply read on a web page. It is even exploring the possibility that a company is interested in sponsoring a paperback edition to give to its customers. Finally, there will also be a classic hardcover version for which you will have to pay $ 24.99.
-When did you get the idea that we were heading towards the “total free” economy?
-Well, it had something to do with my writing the article that I titled The Long Tail. This expression refers to the market of unlimited choice, which is possible thanks to the fact that we enjoy an infinite storage capacity on the internet. And we have that possibility because it costs nothing. I just had to assume it to write the book. But as I thought about the power of free, I realized that the web is an economy based on freely accessible products and services. Google applies this concept; the network is, therefore, like a country where things cost zero. And I said to myself: this is exciting, it had never been seen that merchandise was delivered to consumers without them giving anything in return. I looked around and thought it was a new inexpensive model. And that’s why I decided to write the book.
-Well, maybe they will give you the Nobel Prize in Economics for reaching that conclusion.
-To me? Nooo …
-What about young people? She has gotten used to not paying for anything and is badly used to it.
-That’s not entirely accurate. Young people buy books or magazines. The better they are, the more they will sell. I think a lot of media would have to be recycled.
-By the way, how is your magazine doing, Wired?
-Very good. Last year we had record sales.
-In a PowerPoint presentation that runs on the net you mentioned that what mattered now was attention and reputation. Could you clarify this idea for me?
-Yes. There are currently multiple economies. There are things that we value more than money, such as time, and others that we trust or believe in. And the truth is that we have a limited attention span, counted in hours, and a potential to grant reputation that is also finite, which can be measured in the number of things, or people, that we trust. In the new free economy, both concepts become something like money, a kind of virtual currency. And although practically everything on the internet is free, there is a lot of content to digest. I’ll put it another way: on the net, traffic -the visits- is used as a measuring instrument, which is converted into money through advertisements or any other way. We value our popularity by the links that give you entries and that allow you to gain positions in PageRank – the algorithmic method that Google uses to order the results of searches by relevance. So if over time we are not able to build a proper reputation or attract enough attention, we already know what the impact on income will be.
-In other words, the essential thing is the brand, like “Wired”, “The New York Times” or “The Guardian”.
-That’s. Obviously it is important that people recognize our brand every day.
-Could you describe to me how the digital world is going to be in five or ten years?
-I don’t make predictions.
-Why?
-In my book I am dedicated to describing the present, not the future.
-And of course, you will not want to tell me how books are going to be, if we will read ebooks – electronic books – or will paper ones continue to exist.
– I believe that both supports will coexist.
-Let’s talk now about laptops. They are getting cheaper and more powerful. Continuing with your idea that we are marching towards the “total free” economy, will the day come when companies will give them to us?
-You say that they are cheaper and more powerful, but it is not like that. For example, I no longer have laptops: now I use a netbook -minicomputer-, which is less powerful. It cost me around $ 200. And I don’t use Windows or Office programs, but Linux -free software operating system- and Google Docs -free online applications similar to Office-. Well, their question was if they are going to give them to us and the answer is yes. In fact, today you can take one home with you as long as you contract a mobile broadband rate with certain companies.
-Have you read Thomas L. Friedman’s book The Earth is Flat ?
-Yes.
-So, if, as Friedman says, the Earth is flat from the point of view of access to world services at low prices, do we perhaps walk towards the world without money, as you yourself suggest in Free ?
-Well, I don’t think everything has to be free. Free is a choice, but not the only option.
-In Wikipedia they have had to ask for money to survive.-There is nothing wrong with it, they have always depended on the generosity of Internet users. Every year they ask for contributions. In fact, I have helped fund the page in the last five years.-And how is the free economy affecting the film industry?-You no longer have to pay for most of the things they do in Hollywood, because they are shown on television.
-What is your advice for young entrepreneurs who decide to start a portal?
-I think they should launch a free version and a higher-level paid version.
-I imagine you mean what you call freemium ?
– That is the model: 90% free -free-, and 10% premium, that is, accessible by making a payment.
-What will your children tell you in, I don’t know, ten or twenty years taking into account that this internet thing is something so recent?-I already told you that I don’t make predictions. But keep in mind that my children have not grown up in the days when telephones had a cord, nor have they been raised in the world of encyclopedias that rested on the shelves. They assume that the answers are easily accessible. Everything they use is turned on at the push of a button, all the content they want is at hand on a computer or mobile phone. This is what they see. They are not even surprised like us, because for them it is normal.
-And if you compare the lives of your children with your own, do you think that their training is better than the one you received?
-Yes, totally. Look, it’s as simple as this: if you are curious, you will have access to more information. So if my children are curious they will be able to educate themselves on the internet. But if they don’t feel any uneasiness, then their training will be no better than mine. It will be the same as sitting in school and attending the blackboard in a boring way, as it happened to me. So if you want to know about history, you will have all you want. If not, you will only learn what your teacher teaches you.
Carlos Salas
