Perhaps the answer is a lot of these services are less vital and desired as their MAU figures lead everyone to believe.
If someone really wants or needs something, they'll find a way to pay for it (directly or indirectly) if access cannot be had any other way. Everything else is "nice to have" until the cost or friction gets a little higher than zero.
The fact that people are increasingly unwilling to "pay for" things like FB seems to suggest these services are not actually _that_ vital despite their high usage figures.
nobody pays (directly) for Google search but surely most would agree search engines are vital. clearly the advertising business model has enabled certain products in a way that direct purchases could not; to reject the model wholesale seems like luddite conservatism
Not what I'm implying. Google has kept the friction & effort minimal (by it's very nature, their search engine advertising is a lot less creepy & personally invasive than FBs). The utility of google search is also high enough that I'm quite sure a decent chunk of people would pay a small monthly sub for it if needed (or offered as an alternative option).
If someone really wants or needs something, they'll find a way to pay for it (directly or indirectly) if access cannot be had any other way. Everything else is "nice to have" until the cost or friction gets a little higher than zero.
The fact that people are increasingly unwilling to "pay for" things like FB seems to suggest these services are not actually _that_ vital despite their high usage figures.