“This morning, there are more than one billion people using Facebook actively each month,” CEO Mark Zuckerberg posted Thursday. “If you’re reading this: thank you for giving me and my little team the honor of serving you.”
Though the accomplishment marks a major milestone for Facebook, the company is still struggling to stabilize its image after its disappointing IPO in May, and is openly pursuing more ways to bring in revenue.
One of the ways Facebook — Which has always gone by the slogan “It’s free and always will be” — is monetizing its platform is by allowing users to pay to promote their posts.
The site has been testing the feature for months around the world, starting with users in New Zealand and expanding to 20 countries. Companies have been offered the opportunity to pay to promote posts since May. The Daily News, for example, has the option to pay between $15 and $1,500 to promote a post.
On Wednesday, Facebook announced it was bringing Promoted Posts to the U.S.
“Every day, news feed delivers your posts to your friends,” a Facebook engineer wrote in a post on the site. “Sometimes a particular friend might not notice your post, especially if a lot of their friends have been posting recently and your story isn’t near the top of their feed. When you promote a post — whether it’s wedding photos, a garage sale, or big news — you bump it higher in news feed so your friends and subscribers are more likely to notice it.”
Facebook has not announced a set list of prices, but says users who pay to have their posts highlighted this way can see how many of their friends saw the promoted content.
The feature has currently only been rolled out to a sample of users, who reported seeing the option to pay $7 to promote their posts, according to The Associated Press.
While some users are excited about the opportunity to guarantee that they will be able to reach more people, others expressed skepticism that Facebook is forcing them to pay for what used to be free — the ability to share with friends — and that this will change the dynamic of the site.
Darren McCollester/Getty Images Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg announced Thursday that the site now has 1 billion users.
“I worry that Promoted Posts could change the atmosphere of Facebook from one where the most beloved content gets seen most to one where the rich can dominate the news feed,” TechCrunch writer Josh Constine wrote Wednesday.
Companies that have Facebook “Pages” instead of profiles have been seeing the option to pay for promoted posts since May. The Daily News Facebook page, for example, has the option to pay between $15 and $1,500 per post, and Facebook promises more exposure depending on how much you’re willing to pay.
Facebook maintains the move to allow Promoted Posts does not signal that the social network will one day charge users to be on the site.
“Facebook has offered paid products — virtual gifts, virtual goods in games, sponsored stories, ads — for years, and still remains free,” spokesman Jonathan Thaw told Reuters. “This doesn’t change that.”
Source: NY Daily News
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