Consumer Association organises Twitter #downloaddebate

An interesting experiment. That is probably the most positive summary for the Dutch Consumer Association’s initiative. A debate in 140 characters about the possibility that downloading will be made illegal in The Netherlands.

The Consumer Association itself limited its role to launching five statements, amongst which “consumers are willing to pay, but need a proper supply (…)” and “illegal downloading can’t be enforced, so just don’t do it”.

The debate was quite chaotic and did not produce any new insights. It is not easy to provide an argument with evidence in 140 characters.

It was interesting to see that hardly anyone appeared to understand the functioning of business models and how different kinds of content require different solutions. The discussion narrowed itself to music, while movies and games were on the most part ignored. Twitterers regularly suggested alternative sources of revenue (concerts) and ad-supported models, without realising that these models do not always work and are hard to realise especially for movies and games.

At the end, the Consumer Association concluded with the following tweet: “#downloaddebat Summarising the debate is not easy. But this is often heard: consumers want better access to paid content.”

Not completely surprisingly, this coincides with the Consumer Association’s position, which they published in a TV message and a press release right after the debate. In that light, the debate looks more like a gimmick that the Association has organised to draw the attention to their own position rather than wanting to contribute something new to a complex problem.

14-12-2009