Facebook is testing out paid messages, and according to CNN money, it will charge you no less than $100 to message Mark Zuckerberg. When I tried to message the great man from my Facebook account in Germany, the message was sent without a charge - and no, I am not buds with Zuckerberg on Facebook. Imagine that.
But this is not to say that users from the US, where Facebook is a bit ahead in terms of testing and rolling out new features, are not faced with "extreme" payment options. The first to discover the new price tag were the fine folks at Mashable, who quickly reported that Facebook Charging $100 to Message Mark Zuckerberg. They tested from multiple accounts, although they did not reveal the geo-location of those accounts, and found the same "disturbing" news regarding the "other" inbox of prominent Facebook users. Unlike the $1 to-message price tag carried by regular users, Facebook founder Zuckerberg carries a $100 price tag.
That's also what it costs to message Facebook COO Sheryl Sandburg , CFO David Ebersman, and several other Facebook members CNNMoney tried, such as Digg founder Kevin Rose; according to CNN Money.
If this works (and I don's see any reason why it shouldn't) it will make a great revenue stream for Facebook. But... sure, there's a "but." Charging users to message prominent users, without giving a cut of the share to these people, is a slippery slope. Most likely, the people who "need" to get in touch with Zuckerberg and the like via their Facebook accounts are members of the media, marketers and other similar entities. Private users will "skip" the bait. So while Facebook makes money off its prominent users, wouldn't it be fair to split the revenue with them? Just saying.
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