Everything might be free…
Translators, according to the NYTimes, weren't too pleased to be offered free work at LinkedIn. And Malcolm Gladwell, writing in The New York, splashes a bit of cold water on Chris Anderson's thesis in his new book, Free.
I did quite a bit of (paid) work last year researching free labor. My conclusion is this: No, not everything is free. But in nearly every market, there's a strong possibility that someone is experimenting with a "free" business model--shifting the burden of paying elsewhere in process.
Some of these experiments fail (New York Times "Select"). Some work (Google search). But practically everyone in business should at least ask themselves this question: "Hmmm. Do you think someone somewhere might be trying to do this for free?"
