FB to charge for some message delivery
2012-12-21 14:22
San Francisco - Facebook on Thursday began testing the
feasibility of charging to guarantee that messages from strangers make it into
inboxes of intended recipients at the social network.
Dabbling with getting people to pay to connect with Facebook
members comes as the social network strives to tap the potential to make money
from its membership base of more than a billion people.
The Facebook Messages test, limited to the United States,
lets a sender pay a dollar to make sure an electronic missive is routed to
someone's "inbox" even when the person isn't in their circle of
friends.
Facebook messaging system was billed as being designed to
deflect seemingly unwanted correspondence into an "other" folder that
can be ignored.
Facebook said that it wanted to determine whether adding a
"financial signal" improves its formula for delivering "relevant
and useful" messages to members' inboxes.
Facebook already uses social cues, such as connections
between friends, and algorithms that identify spam messages.
"This test is designed to address situations where neither
social nor algorithmic signals are sufficient," Facebook said in a blog
post.
"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."
Policy changes
The Menlo Park, California-based social network in 2011
introduced "other" folders as repositories for messages of dubious
interest to recipients.
The test was introduced along with updates that included
"basic" or "strict" filtering settings for inboxes.
The strict setting limits inboxes to little more than
messages from friends at the social network, while the basic setting opens the
door to friends of friends.
Facebook on Wednesday halted a test of placing ads in
"apps" that synch to the leading social network, renewing questions
on how it will boost revenues from members using smartphones or tablets.
Facebook contended that it was making a priority of
developing ways to profit from posts shared between friends at the social
network.
Facebook sparked a rebellion of Instagram users this week
with proposed policy changes intended to improve the ability to make money from
the smartphone photo sharing service it bought this year.
Instagram backed off the policy changes in the face of the
backlash.
Resounding flop
Changes to the Instagram privacy policy and terms of service
set to take effect 16 January had included wording that appeared to allow
people's pictures to be used by advertisers at Instagram or Facebook worldwide,
royalty-free.
Instagram, which prior to the controversy had some 100
million users, this month distanced itself from Twitter in order to route photo
viewers to its own website, where it has the potential to make money from ads
or other mechanisms.
The service made it impossible for internet users to view
its images in messages at Twitter.
Previously, Instagram pictures shared in messages tweeted
from smartphones could be viewed at Twitter. Instagram rose to stardom with the
help of Twitter.
Facebook completed its purchase of Instagram in September.
The original price was pegged at $1bn but the final value was less because of a
decline in the social network's share price.
Facebook went public in May with a resounding flop, its $38
initial public offering price immediately plunging to eventually less than half
that. Shares were trading at $27.36 at the close of trading on the Nasdaq
exchange on Thursday.
