Pay for A Freebie with Spam? I don't like this...

On my freebie frolic today, I saw a cute little freebie advertised on Craftcrave, which caught my eye.
http://www.scraplantis.com/gabs-blog/2011/01/13/so-why-is-it-only-free-with-a-tweet-or-facebook-post/


Now, I have no axe to grind specifically with the designer Gabs, who is lovely and doesn't hurt a fly with her designing business and is most likely trialling this idea after seeing it on another blog perhaps - but I am here as a freebie hunter to say that this is ill-advised.   First of all, here is the unedited post (in entirety) so you have an idea on how it works;

SO WHY IS IT ONLY FREE WITH A TWEET OR A FACEBOOK POST?

this is the question not only me but other designers got asked and I can easily answer it to you

it’s because to earn a little thank you for all we do for free!

now why do we want a little thank you?

it’s so easy as well: we designers put a lot of love but also time and work into our designs and of course – that goes without words – into our freebies as well and guess what happened for a while now? I think you know it already: the freebies were downloaded more than hundred times but only one or two left a little message to say “thank you” – we even get complains if a link isn’t working properly. seems like people have minutes to complain but no second to say thank you.

as a designer it really hurts

now we designers have to reach for a decision

1. stop giving away freebies

or

2. let us pay with a tweet or facebook post

so I go with the second for now and I hope you will be happy with my decision

now on to the fun – here is another freebie for you

end text quote

So here is what I commented in reply (and no I did not get the freebie)

"All mass tweeting is going to do is depreciate the brand and the freebie itself.
I also was one of the few who left comments like thank you, and there is just an app you can do for us to leave a thank you without excessive spam bot hurdles.
It is not our fault, spammers exist?? I love the new checkbox idea, with thank you, more of this, or less of this – surely customer feedback is as valuable as a worthless tweet that is destined to get repeated enmasse as your freebies become popular?

If it is a thank u that you want, then this should suffice, but if it is advertising you want, then that would mean tweets do it better for you. I think freebies are still an excellent way to build a relationship between you and customer, and the customers you get, enjoy a treat every now and again. With how competitive the market is with heaps of designers, I have been dismayed to see designers shoot themselves in the foot by making freebie hurdles – such as passwords and this kind of pay for this. I am tired of pirate phobia that punishes people that actually BUY kits??? All you do is turn us away, and pirates were never going to buy your stuff. I am really passionate about this issue, because freebies are an essential part of the hobby, and if they die out, then many people (how did most of us start by having a harmless play with free stuff right???) won’t digi scrap – then we are all in trouble.

Thank you’s are nice, but they should not be the fuel for what you do.
Your passion for customer service to the people who buy, well, that is worth something. We give your blog traffic which you can convert to ads if you wanted to – I would be more happy clicking an affiliate link then spamming my friends. I just think this would totally kill the very nature of a freebie.."

If people wish to have more conversation, my blog is
http://freebiefanclub.blogspot.com/

Thank you
Miss Renee
xoxoo

Now it is your turn!

I would like to see if any other freebie hunters and mixed buyers (meaning you buy kits when you can and when you think they are worth it, and you have to have them) would like to express how they feel.  Do you have a Facebook account or Twitter account in the first place?  Would you consider getting one in order to keep getting freebies?   Do you think this idea will catch on?

Do you agree that the tweet or post to facebook is spam, and by very nature against the common goal to keep the internet free of clutter and useless information.  How do designers not know that 853 tweets on the same item (if your freebie is well designed, sure why not - I have seen that many) will make buyers irked at your brand for choking up their feeds with redundant advertising ?

Penny for your thoughts, again this is not personal. Let's keep it that way :)

Just talking about designers and this freebie problem of getting no thanks.

I would like it solved myself as I am tired of being tarred with the same brush.

It makes me feel so guilty to be a freebie hunter, like we have a bad rap cos some people don't say thank you.

Why don't they make it easier?  Less spam hurdles, more tickboxes and chat boxes??

Share this post around if you like, I may invite some others into the discussion.