Comments on: The Cost Of “Free” Tools http://davefleet.com/2009/01/cost-free-tools/ Exploring the intersection of communications, marketing and social media Sat, 11 Feb 2012 11:48:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Jen Zingsheim http://davefleet.com/2009/01/cost-free-tools/comment-page-1/#comment-24471 Jen Zingsheim Thu, 29 Jan 2009 18:39:29 +0000 http://davefleet.com/?p=849#comment-24471 Amen. I've been hammering on this for a long time. I have an agency background, and just for fun, I started to play around with estimates on how much it would cost in billable dollars to dedicate the time to a) research and locate appropriate bloggers, b) estimate the amount of time to thoroughly read their blogs, c) guessed at how long it would take to build a relationship and then pitch them on an idea. It most certainly was not free, and in fact made me think that for a number of reasons, blogger outreach would only be cost-effective in a handful of situations. Oy vey. And, regarding the notion that it's easy to forget time has a cost--I have a hunch that most businesses *haven't* forgotten this. It may be why social media adoption has moved at a slower pace in corporate settings than many in social media would like. ;-) Amen. I’ve been hammering on this for a long time. I have an agency background, and just for fun, I started to play around with estimates on how much it would cost in billable dollars to dedicate the time to a) research and locate appropriate bloggers, b) estimate the amount of time to thoroughly read their blogs, c) guessed at how long it would take to build a relationship and then pitch them on an idea.

It most certainly was not free, and in fact made me think that for a number of reasons, blogger outreach would only be cost-effective in a handful of situations. Oy vey.

And, regarding the notion that it’s easy to forget time has a cost–I have a hunch that most businesses *haven’t* forgotten this. It may be why social media adoption has moved at a slower pace in corporate settings than many in social media would like. ;-)

]]> By: Lisa Trosien http://davefleet.com/2009/01/cost-free-tools/comment-page-1/#comment-24404 Lisa Trosien Thu, 29 Jan 2009 03:47:59 +0000 http://davefleet.com/?p=849#comment-24404 I completely agree with you, BUT getting people to actually track the time they put into them is something else completely. I've heard folks rave about how much money they are saving with Craigslist, etc., but they really aren't monetizing anything. Granted, this applies to businesses rather than the one-offs who use SM for just a few things now and then. But I'd love to see a time study on utilizing some of these SM sites. I completely agree with you, BUT getting people to actually track the time they put into them is something else completely. I’ve heard folks rave about how much money they are saving with Craigslist, etc., but they really aren’t monetizing anything. Granted, this applies to businesses rather than the one-offs who use SM for just a few things now and then. But I’d love to see a time study on utilizing some of these SM sites.

]]> By: JustinSMV (JustinSMV) http://davefleet.com/2009/01/cost-free-tools/comment-page-1/#comment-24402 JustinSMV (JustinSMV) Thu, 29 Jan 2009 03:44:57 +0000 http://davefleet.com/?p=849#comment-24402 <strong>Twitter Comment</strong> <a href="http://twitter.com/JustinSMV" title="Twitter Comment" rel="nofollow"> <div title="JustinSMV (JustinSMV)" style="float:left;margin-right:10px;padding:0;width:60px;height:60px;background:url(http://s3.amazonaws.com/static.whitleymedia/picbg.jpg) no-repeat top;cursor:hand;"> </div> <div title="JustinSMV (JustinSMV)" style="float:left;margin-left:-70px;margin-right:10px;padding:0;width:60px;height:60px;background:url(http://purl.org/net/spiurl/JustinSMV) no-repeat top;cursor:hand;"> </div> </a> reading Social Media isn't free - interesting - [link to post]<br /><br /> - Posted using Chat Catcher Twitter Comment


reading Social Media isn’t free – interesting – [link to post]

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]]> By: rentwiki (Eric Wu) http://davefleet.com/2009/01/cost-free-tools/comment-page-1/#comment-24395 rentwiki (Eric Wu) Thu, 29 Jan 2009 01:16:39 +0000 http://davefleet.com/?p=849#comment-24395 <strong>Twitter Comment</strong> <a href="http://twitter.com/rentwiki" title="Twitter Comment" rel="nofollow"> <div title="rentwiki (Eric Wu)" style="float:left;margin-right:10px;padding:0;width:60px;height:60px;background:url(http://s3.amazonaws.com/static.whitleymedia/picbg.jpg) no-repeat top;cursor:hand;"> </div> <div title="rentwiki (Eric Wu)" style="float:left;margin-left:-70px;margin-right:10px;padding:0;width:60px;height:60px;background:url(http://purl.org/net/spiurl/rentwiki) no-repeat top;cursor:hand;"> </div> </a> SM is not free, time is $. But u cant straight line the cost of time, diminishing opportunity costs as your spend time. [link to post]<br /><br /> - Posted using Chat Catcher Twitter Comment


SM is not free, time is $. But u cant straight line the cost of time, diminishing opportunity costs as your spend time. [link to post]

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]]> By: Eric Wu http://davefleet.com/2009/01/cost-free-tools/comment-page-1/#comment-24394 Eric Wu Thu, 29 Jan 2009 01:12:15 +0000 http://davefleet.com/?p=849#comment-24394 Agreed. Everyone says SM is free. However, you cannot straight line the cost of time, I think there are diminishing opportunity costs as you spend time. Though I think it's better to focus on a couple of SM tools and do those particularly well, as oppose to spending little time on everything. Agreed. Everyone says SM is free. However, you cannot straight line the cost of time, I think there are diminishing opportunity costs as you spend time. Though I think it’s better to focus on a couple of SM tools and do those particularly well, as oppose to spending little time on everything.

]]> By: theprguy (Nate Long) http://davefleet.com/2009/01/cost-free-tools/comment-page-1/#comment-24386 theprguy (Nate Long) Wed, 28 Jan 2009 22:16:22 +0000 http://davefleet.com/?p=849#comment-24386 <strong>Twitter Comment</strong> <a href="http://twitter.com/theprguy" title="Twitter Comment" rel="nofollow"> <div title="theprguy (Nate Long)" style="float:left;margin-right:10px;padding:0;width:60px;height:60px;background:url(http://s3.amazonaws.com/static.whitleymedia/picbg.jpg) no-repeat top;cursor:hand;"> </div> <div title="theprguy (Nate Long)" style="float:left;margin-left:-70px;margin-right:10px;padding:0;width:60px;height:60px;background:url(http://s3.amazonaws.com/twitter_production/profile_images/64184926/Nate006_normal.jpg) no-repeat top;cursor:hand;"> </div> </a> Cool post by @davefleet: The Cost Of “Free” Tools - [link to post]<br /><br /> - Posted using Chat Catcher Twitter Comment


Cool post by @davefleet: The Cost Of “Free” Tools – [link to post]

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]]> By: steve cunningham http://davefleet.com/2009/01/cost-free-tools/comment-page-1/#comment-24384 steve cunningham Wed, 28 Jan 2009 21:26:34 +0000 http://davefleet.com/?p=849#comment-24384 Dave - couldn't agree more. The single largest line item on the expense side of most P&L statements is labour. Time is money - literally. Dave – couldn’t agree more. The single largest line item on the expense side of most P&L statements is labour. Time is money – literally.

]]> By: craighuff (Craig Huffstetler) http://davefleet.com/2009/01/cost-free-tools/comment-page-1/#comment-24381 craighuff (Craig Huffstetler) Wed, 28 Jan 2009 20:40:40 +0000 http://davefleet.com/?p=849#comment-24381 <strong>Twitter Comment</strong> <a href="http://twitter.com/craighuff" title="Twitter Comment" rel="nofollow"> <div title="craighuff (Craig Huffstetler)" style="float:left;margin-right:10px;padding:0;width:60px;height:60px;background:url(http://s3.amazonaws.com/static.whitleymedia/picbg.jpg) no-repeat top;cursor:hand;"> </div> <div title="craighuff (Craig Huffstetler)" style="float:left;margin-left:-70px;margin-right:10px;padding:0;width:60px;height:60px;background:url(http://s3.amazonaws.com/twitter_production/profile_images/59168987/Recent_8_normal.gif) no-repeat top;cursor:hand;"> </div> </a> Dave Fleet's "The Cost of 'Free' Tools" ...social media does indeed have a cost. It costs *time*, which is *valuable*. [link to post]<br /><br /> - Posted using Chat Catcher Twitter Comment


Dave Fleet’s “The Cost of ‘Free’ Tools” …social media does indeed have a cost. It costs *time*, which is *valuable*. [link to post]

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]]> By: Tay Exley http://davefleet.com/2009/01/cost-free-tools/comment-page-1/#comment-24376 Tay Exley Wed, 28 Jan 2009 19:33:43 +0000 http://davefleet.com/?p=849#comment-24376 The difference is in whether the time spent is understood as an asset (or in the pursuit of assets) or as something only marginally important to the success of any project. In the end, the public can always tell which side social media falls on. The difference is in whether the time spent is understood as an asset (or in the pursuit of assets) or as something only marginally important to the success of any project. In the end, the public can always tell which side social media falls on.

]]> By: raxlakhani (Rax Lakhani) http://davefleet.com/2009/01/cost-free-tools/comment-page-1/#comment-24370 raxlakhani (Rax Lakhani) Wed, 28 Jan 2009 16:25:47 +0000 http://davefleet.com/?p=849#comment-24370 <strong>Twitter Comment</strong> <a href="http://twitter.com/raxlakhani" title="Twitter Comment" rel="nofollow"> <div title="raxlakhani (Rax Lakhani)" style="float:left;margin-right:10px;padding:0;width:60px;height:60px;background:url(http://s3.amazonaws.com/static.whitleymedia/picbg.jpg) no-repeat top;cursor:hand;"> </div> <div title="raxlakhani (Rax Lakhani)" style="float:left;margin-left:-70px;margin-right:10px;padding:0;width:60px;height:60px;background:url(http://s3.amazonaws.com/twitter_production/profile_images/72106537/raxabama_normal.jpg) no-repeat top;cursor:hand;"> </div> </a> @davefleet Couldn't agree with you more, Dave: [link to post]<br /><br /> - Posted using Chat Catcher Twitter Comment


@davefleet Couldn’t agree with you more, Dave: [link to post]

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