There is one of the Seinfeld episodes in which Kramer finds himself working for a business, even though he was not officially part of their workforce. His boss ends up firing him for producing sloppy work – as if done by someone who never had any business training. Here is how the final conversation goes (as far as I can recall):
Kramer: But I don’t even work here.
Boss: That’s what makes it more difficult.
Just because Kramer worked for free did it make sense for a business to have him do work for them?
Now look at this in the context of what Mr.Chris Anderson is saying about information wants to be free, free news sources will displace paid news and making your service free will make it go viral.
Would any business use data whose quality and veracity is unknown, just because it is free?
If the service adds no unique value, why should a customer use it?
If the service does add unique value, why shouldn’t you charge for it?