I was reading this article in the October Fast Company on how to monetize social networks. Towards the end of the article, the author posits an monetizing method for social networking sites where users would share in the financial reward of doing advertiser- friendly things (e.g. posting a movie clip that your friends look at). The author has a tool Viral Loop up on Facebook (and others) that gives you an approximation of what the financial value of your network would be.
Really interesting article, but reading this my Cognitive Trap siren went off in by brain. People treat things with monetary value very differently than things that are free. There is a whole chapter in Dan Ariely's, Predictably Irrational that looks at why we resent doing things when paid that we happily did for free. In one example, AARP asked lawyers to offer discounted ($30/hour) services to needy retiree. Lawyers said no. AARP then asked if they would offer free services. Lawyers said yes. How we Decide, by Jonah Lehrer takes this one step deeper and shows that altruism shows different neural activation than doing things for a small fee.
While I admit it seems like a stretch to think my status updates constitute altruistic behavior, I would hypothesize that turning users into business partners would radically alter the perception and assumptions of the members and could be toxic to the existing ethos of the sites. What do other people think?
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