11–12 of 12 posts
I'm sorry, but saying that when I use sites like Flickr for free I'm lending them free labour is like saying I'm an employee of NBC for watching TV.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not quite. Flickr, Youtube, et al. all derive their most value from user contributions. What good would Youtube be if users didn't upload videos? When described economically, labor is a resource and is one half of the production function: P = c K^a * L^b where a, b, and c are constants. P is production, K is capital, and L is labor. Youtube provides the capital, their site, and the users provide the labor, the adding…
I'm not adding value to NBC's bottom line by watching their television program?? It's called ratings. On the internet, we call them page views. Either way, I think the equation is changed fundamentally when labour does not need to be incentivized with money. The labour in this case is users, who choose to create value with their own time. How can we have a discussion about efficient inputs of labour when the price te…
The equation doesn't change I don't believe, just it's implications. You no longer buy L, you have to earn it with K. Labour isn't free, even when you don't pay for it in money. Its dynamics are just more complicated.