Kidblog CEO defends move to pay platform
When the news that Kidblog is no longer completely free hit cyberspace, reactions poured in on this blog and on social media sites, like Twitter and Facebook. |
| Kidblog CEO Matt Hardy |
Granted, there is a middle tier that is just $60 per year (reasonable for a quality program like Kidblog), but even this is too much for many teachers, already bogged down with expenses that paltry budgets won't cover.
With traffic to the original news-breaking post increasing exponentially, Kidblog CEO, Matt Hardy, decided to weigh in on the discussion. Here are excerpts of his comments, posted here.
"Making these adjustments involved tough decision-making. . . As I'm sure you can also understand, it costs a lot to provide a great free service like Kidblog. To ensure that we can continue to provide long term value for teachers and students, we rolled out premium features for those users who need extra resources. This will allow us to maintain a sustainable business that can grow and respond to our users' needs."In his comment, Hardy also claims that Kidblog has received "overwhelmingly positive reactions to the premium plans," although it's not clear what this means.
While I appreciate Hardy making his way to this blog to respond to upset users, and I understand that there may be a need to generate company-sustaining revenue, I'm still not happy that one minute all my Kidblog features were free, and the next minute some came with a fee.
I think an email or a post on Kidblog's own blog page, explaining the move would have been appropriate. What about asking longterm loyal users which features were most important to them, so perhaps those could have remained free -- like student choice of themes?
I have championed Kidblog as the hands-down best education blogging platform for years on my how-to video site, Learn it in 5, and at workshops. I'll continue to do this, I'm sure.
Sadly, now I have to add a footnote. Kidblog is free. . . well, sort of.
As a long time proponent of Kidblog I at first was disappointed by the upgrade and the need to pay for certain features. However, I quickly realized that $25 is not much money to give back to a company that has done so much for my students and I. And I also realized that I don't need to pay to still be able to use Kidblog as a teacher, I just would have less features. We are so quick to be upset the minute someone tries to charge us for a product, and I get that, I am super stretched financially and spend too much money as it is on my classroom. But, they left us with a free option and could have charged so much more, we should be happy that they are successful and can finally get paid for an incredible product.
ReplyDeletePernille, I certainly agree with you. It isn't much to pay for a fantastic product. Again, I just wish it had been handled differently.
Deleteremember when the Browns where whisked away from Cleveland by their late owner, Art Modell. One night I went to bed and they were here. I woke the next morning and they were gone. The Kidblog change felt a bit like this.
Hey Mark,
ReplyDeleteI am just catching up with this and your blog! Man! Pretty big change! I, too, like many others that have replied to your posts about Kidblog have been a HUGE supporter of it! It definitely makes me nervous with the many different classrooms that I have help support or get started over the past couple of years. Mark Moran's reply definitely put it in perspective for me, but I still worry about administration supporting it financially!
Just when I felt like we were starting to make some noise with the tool and kids! Hmmmm.
I hope this doesn't negatively affect all the great blogging going on in my district!
Hey Brent, first, let me say I'm thrilled that you guys are blogging, which I believe is arguably the most important activity that we can do in schools. If Kidblog's free version no longer works, hopefully, you can afford the next tier, which is only $25 per year, if you pay for the entire year up front. Well worth it for this amazing tool.
DeleteGood luck, and thanks for sharing. Hope to see you back here soon.
Mr. Barnes,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your post. I, too, am a huge proponent of KidBlog and the teacher/student-centric platform it offers. I've led professional developments about KidBlog, have made tutorials on how to use KidBlog, and will continue to talk about how great a system it is. You voiced my frustration well in your post, and I sent an email to Matt Hardy days after the switch about it. I got the same reply you did.
I did choose to pay out the $25 for limited premium features, and your other commentors are right- it isn't much cash. As we all know, though, it adds up- Vokis, domain names, class glogs, etc.- and I guess we'll just have to decide which incredible technology experiences we can afford to provide our students. We also have to make our voices heard that freemium and adware shouldn't ruin ed tech. Thanks again for you post-
Hey Matthew,
DeleteThanks for an articulate response. I definitely agree that the freemium and adware trend in ed tech is something that has to be dealt with. I do think your $25 is well spent, as Kidblog and many other products are well worth a small investment. I wrote about this on eschool news here: http://www.eschoolnews.com/2013/11/12/paid-free-technology-224/.
Thanks for reading and best of luck.