On December 20, 2012 social network giant Facebook announced that it would begin testing paid Facebook messaging for brands. By doing this Facebook would be changing everyone’s privacy settings. Previously, the privacy settings allow users to set their settings to receive messages from everyone, friends of friends, or friends only. Now Facebook updated the terms of service to read you’ll mostly see messages from friends and people you may know. This updated language gives Facebook a little bit of breathing room in regards to their attempt to ramp up this new potential revenue stream.
Data from eMarketer suggests that 46% of US marketers reportedly used Facebook messaging as a marketing tactic. However, when looking in the next 12 months, only 19% said they planned to continue using Facebook private messages.
Currently Facebook testing this on a small percentage of US users with the idea that people will pay $1.00 to send a private message. Even though Facebook may be selling its soul to the spam invaders, Facebook is still attempting to look out for its users. They are putting a cap on the number of paid messages you can receive in one week to ensure lower spam rate.
There have also been rumors circulating from social media new hub, Mashable, that Facebook would be allowing users to send a message to Zuckerburg, founder of Facebook, for $100 price tag! Would you pay that to sell Zuckerburg on your brand?
+Anna Lea Crowe Social Media Strategist at Webhead Interactive.
Blog by Webhead Interactive