This is interesting. Mashable is reporting that Facebook is now charging users US$100 to send a message to Mark Zuckerberg.
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In its tests, it found that the option only applies to people who don’t follow Mark Zuckerberg. We tried the same thing in our offices and would suggest that it also doesn’t apply to users outside the US.
As Mashable notes, this is obviously a variant of the US$1 pay-to-message option that Facebook has been testing out for some time now. The new service allows people who are not even in your extended networks to pay a nominal fee send you messages that will appear in your main inbox.
If the person sending the message doesn’t pay, it will appear in the “other” section of your inbox, the place where it sends all the messages it guesses you won’t read urgently.
When Facebook announced the payment option it said that it hoped this would make the messages you receive from outsiders more relevant, as, theoretically, anyone willing to pay to send you a message should have something of value to say.
More likely though is that Facebook is looking for whatever revenue streams it can find. After a tough few months post-IPO, the social network has to show investors that it is a fully viable business option.
Image: Mashable
