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Magnnus · 3229 days ago · link · · parent · post: The social aggregator is a terrible business model.
There's a third option you didn't mention. Offer the core of the website for free, and charge for premium extras. I think this model can work well, but it has to be implemented properly. The site must be fully usable and enjoyable for free. Additionally, charging for anything that users already get for free is a sure way to piss people off. One example is offering premium users early access to new features. After some time, the rest of the community gets the feature. This ensures that free users don't feel cheated, since they're still getting everything premium users are. In general, you want users to feel like they're getting more for paying, not less for not paying.