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Facebook Testing $100 Fee To Mail Mark Zuckerberg

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the cost-of-sending-messages dept.

iComp writes with a story about how it will cost you $100 to message Mark Zuckerberg on Facebook. "Got something you'd like to say to Mark Zuckerberg? The Facebook CEO still maintains a profile on the social networking site he founded, but beginning on Friday, sending him a personal message could cost you. Mashable was the first to notice that some users who weren't otherwise on the Behoodied One's Friends list were being asked to pony up before they could send a message to his Inbox, to the tune of $100 a pop. As El Reg reported in December, Facebook has been conducting a limited test of a feature that requires users to pay a fee to send messages to people with whom they have no direct connection. The idea is that the type of users who like to send spam, hate speech, and otherwise frivolous messages typically aren't willing to pay for the privilege. Impose a fee – however small – and they probably won't bother."

5 of 228 comments (clear)

  1. It's one thing for him to sell access by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    It's his company, so any money made benefits him, but when they start selling access to other people without them making anything, it just doesn't work. Now, perhaps if they allowed people to sign up for this service, and do something like Apple where there's a 70/30 split, then maybe you have a recipe for success.

  2. This is it: the beginning of the end by Lieutenant_Dan · · Score: 5, Interesting

    When you scramble to monetize your product by pimping off your CEO you know it's downhill from here on.

    Next:
    - for 5 euros they will attach the head of one of your friends on a porn star
    - charge 1 cent every time you use your FB login with another site
    - charge $5 to add 50 new friends for the socially inept or people you need to get that extra mile
    - for $1,000 bump someone off FB with the same name and get exclusive rights for 12 months
    - $5 for audio greetings, $10 for video
    -$1 to send a text message

    --
    Wearing pants should always be optional.
  3. Re:Laugh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I deleted my account in 2008, which I only held for about a week. Following the correct procedure at the time, it wasn't easy to deactivate and delete then, but I did manage it.

    A friend recently informed me my account is appearing on his profile again.

  4. Purpose is to monetize spam by JoeyRox · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The real purpose of the $100 fee to Zuckerberg is only to draw free press to Facebook's paid spam service, where they'll allow companies to send you unsolicited emails that bypass spam filters in exchange for a fee. Without the fee Facebook says those messages go into the the "other" folder; with the fee the messages will go directly to the inbox. It's reprehensible, and Facebook has the nerve to claim the purpose of the fee is to reduce spam. The real purpose is to eliminate free spam.

  5. I will pay $100 to never hear about him again by big_e_1977 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I would be willing to pay $100 dollars for a permanent media blackout so I will never have to hear about Mark Zuckerberg ever again. The only thing I might miss is a future story where he gets convicted by the feds for insider trading and fraud. But this is America were corporations and CEOs are effectively exempt from all laws so such an event ever occurring is slim.