I hope that recent revelations regarding social media, particularly Facebook, has caused reflection focused on what we can expect when using a free service. I thought that the reaction to Cheryl Sandberg’s reply to what Facebook would do to provide an ad free space – charge a subscription – was telling. So many seemed shocked probably because they have not given a thought to how Facebook maintains its infrastructure and pays its many employees.
This is not a post about Facebook, Twitter, Google or other services that have relied on ads and the sale of personal data. This is a post about the reaction to the announcement from Padlet that it must cut back its free offering and charges schools or teachers. To be clear, Padlet will maintain a free “level” – three pads with ads. However, the level at which many teachers used the service will now require payment.
The reaction on the part of many was not that understanding and in response (I assume) to this reaction the Padlet Founder offered a detailed explanation of their plans and their decision. His comments are worth considering.
My one negative reaction to the Padlet announcement which seems common to most paid edtech services is the lack of intermediate offerings between free and the lowest subscription. A counter example would be InsertLearning which offers a monthly fee. My guess is that the bookkeeping required might be thought not to be worth the effort to offer some type of tiered model. As the Founder suggests, the cost for the subscription model is reasonable for those classrooms that make extensive use of Padlet. They have good data on patterns of use and have used these data in setting the price for their paid tier.
I do wonder about the ads in the Padlet free plan. Didn’t Channel One receive a lot of criticism for their ads on their educational television channel. Who will be the targets for these ads – the adults or the students?
