Question

Provide an example about a social media platform that uses the freemium model, with details about their model. Also, provide an example about your personal experience with the freemium revenue model.

Answer 1

The platform in case is  a professional networking site Linkedin, whihc offers a basic service for free, while charging for the premium services which can add more value for a user accordng to the specific needs. A career service subscription provides access to the complete information about a member, privilege for unlimited messages and calls to recruiters, services that highlight the resume at the top of the potential applicants' list and some other value added services.The basic subscription comes for free, while a premium is charged at around $30 a month. The other specifically tailored subscriptions are useful for increasing visibility of businesses, increasing sales potential for the companies and providing a huge pool of talented recruiters for  hiring candidates for their companies. Their monthly subscriptions range from $50 to $120 per month. These premium services not only put the members among relatively lower number of participants, thereby improving their visibility and access and helping them better to achieve their objectives.

I have a free basic career account with the site, and was prompted by the company to try its introductory offer of subscription for free for a month. I did not see any significant improvement in the activities of my profile, despite of the fact that I agressively continued with my job search.. I received five messages that month against an average of four, which I managed with a free account. I did not find the service worth the money and discontinued the paid subscription after one month trial. However, one of my friends, who has a business, has better experience with the paid model.