Google is far from free. Its customers paid $26 billion last year. The trick is that you’re not its customer.
My
son is getting a toy for his birthday. Is he the customer? No. I’m the
customer. My son is the user. I’m willing to pay for him to be able to
use it.
Now transfer that to a business
context. A chicken gets free food, and gives off eggs as it would
anyway. The chicken is the user. The customer eats eggs.
You
do, indeed, use Google at no monetary charge. You’re the user. The
customer is the advertiser, who pays for you to use Google so long as
they can sell to you.
Next time you think about
the “post-scarcity economy,” consider to what extent that abundance is
for the user, and to what extent it’s for the customer.
credit:John Roberson