Facebook tests $1 fee for messages to non-friends
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Facebook says it is testing a service that will charge users $1 to guarantee that messages they send to people they are not connected to arrive in users' inboxes, rather than in an often-ignored folder called "other."
Launched in 2011, the "other" folder is where Facebook routes messages it deems less relevant. Not quite spam, these include messages from people you most likely don't know, based on Facebook's reading of your social connections. Many users ignore this folder.
Now, users will be able to pay $1 to route their messages to non-friends. Facebook said Thursday that it is testing the service with a small percentage of individuals — not businesses — in the U.S.
"For example, if you want to send a message to someone you heard speak at an event but are not friends with, or if you want to message someone about a job opportunity, you can use this feature to reach their Inbox," Facebook said in an online post. "For the receiver, this test allows them to hear from people who have an important message to send them."
The company says charging for messages could help discourage spammers.
In October, Facebook unveiled another feature that lets users pay if they want more people to read their updates. For $7, users can promote a post to their friends, just as advertisers do.
Launched in 2011, the "other" folder is where Facebook routes messages it deems less relevant. Not quite spam, these include messages from people you most likely don't know, based on Facebook's reading of your social connections. Many users ignore this folder.
Now, users will be able to pay $1 to route their messages to non-friends. Facebook said Thursday that it is testing the service with a small percentage of individuals — not businesses — in the U.S.
"For example, if you want to send a message to someone you heard speak at an event but are not friends with, or if you want to message someone about a job opportunity, you can use this feature to reach their Inbox," Facebook said in an online post. "For the receiver, this test allows them to hear from people who have an important message to send them."
The company says charging for messages could help discourage spammers.
In October, Facebook unveiled another feature that lets users pay if they want more people to read their updates. For $7, users can promote a post to their friends, just as advertisers do.
Hmmm...From "Facebook:Â It's free and will always be" to "Facebook: It sucks and wants your bucks."
Can you say, "Jumped the Shark?" Zuck and his clowns now step on their own fins on a daily basis.Â
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Facebook has turned into the equivalent of when your parents first discovered e-mail, and forwarded every chain letter in the universe to everyone they knew. (Sure, I thought the Nieman-Marcus cookies were delicious, but Bill Gates still hasn't sent me my $5000.)
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So over.Â
It really looks like people missed the fact that they charge the sender, not the recipient. It will discourage mass mailings, (think SPAM).
They just didn't have the foresight to realize that what they're discouraging is what they really first intended FB to be, a place to find your old and current and new friends.
From now on it's still free, but only to contact your existing friends or people that are connected to you through your existing friends. But if I try to contact any of you, then because we're not connected, I will get charged.
That's all explained in the article. Read it!
BUT:
It is likely you'll meet someone new and try to connect for the first time and bingo, you get charged. So FB really didn't think this through.
And because they didn't think it through, they would have gotten a Shrammie award...
I sometimes think the last conscious person working at FB left two or three years ago.
I don't use FB, and with this kind of greedy charge, I won't ever use FB.
I thought not long ago FB said it was free and would always be free.?.
wow...more and more reasons to hate FB every day!Â
The FB assertion that "most people don't check the other message box" is not quite accurate. FB has purposely not given you any notification at all that you have messages there. Often when I send a friend request, and vice versa, the person writes a note to let you know how you're connected, etc. Â that message can sit for months because you don't get a notice that you have a message in that box. Â I thought the $7.00 status update to your FRIENDS was the worst thing I've ever seen from them, but this is much worse. Â I'm also seeing a lot of spam in the news feed... "sponsored" updates that link to that fake Dr. Oz diet crap. Â Also the side ads that used to be tailored to your interests are now the ones you see in spam all the time "Dermotologists HATE her! How a 50 year old from Kirkland looks 19!" Â Stuff like that now shows up on your FB page. Â They've jumped the shark. Â No small businesses even advertise with them anymore because FB has sold out to the spammers. Â You get no ROI anymore. Â I'd rather spend the money hiring someone competent to do Pinterest or blog for me. Â I'm on FB because it's the most convenient way to keep up with my far flung friends and family. Â Otherwise, it's useless. And even if you specify you want to get updates from particular friends, FB has found a way to weed out 90% of your friend's updates, so that they can convince people to pay $7.00 to show up in your feed again. Same with FB "pages." Â You now have to have people specifically ask for your updates, and even then.. they may not get them unless you pay. Â FB got greedy and paid themselves too much money, spent too much living the over-the-top .com lifestyle, so that even with the millions in ads.. it's not enough. Â It will be the old myspace within 4 years.Â
If only there were a decentralized, standards-based way to electronically message others. An "e-mail" service, if you will. Someone should invent this!
 @nodozr I think this will really only apply to spam. I occasionally use Facebook to send messages to people I'm not friends with and don't have an email address for. As long as the person and I have mutual friends, the messages seem to get delivered to the main folder rather than the 'other' folder. And my "other" folder is full of spam.
Don't sign up for a facebook account, problem solved. Why on earth would you need one to begin with, you have a phone, text back and forth all you want; and it is suppose to be private.
So Facebook is charging $1.00 so I can receive spam?! I'm going to charge facebook $2.00 for each message I receive for wasting my time and sending me something I do no want or need.
You've got it backwards, they're going to charge the sender... in other words it will cost spammers to send you junk mail...
Doesn't sound so bad to me...
Unless I might want to contact someone new. but no one ever gets new friends...
Is there anyone with a brain left at FB?
These hipster clowns are going to destroy their invention regardless of how many people are using it. The tunnel vision and lack of business qualifications is really astounding.Â
That is BS. If they choose to keep going down that route, they will become a thing of the past like MySpace.
facebook coffers will go up....facebook users will move to Google+ to avoid the billions in spam....
 @Jalharad google+ isn't user friendly
Blow it out your butt facebook