But these days, sending a private message to someone can cost anywhere
from $1 to $100 - if you're sending to someone like Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, that is.
"We are testing some extreme price points to see what works to filter spam," said a Facebook spokeswoman.
Last month, Facebook introduced "paid messages," a feature where users
pay a $1 fee to have their private message sent to an individual's
"strict filtering inbox" instead of an obscure "other" inbox. Before the
change, Facebook users were allowed to send a private message free to
someone they didn't know or weren't connected with.
"Several commentators and researchers have noted that imposing a
financial cost on the sender may be the most effective way to discourage
unwanted messages and facilitate delivery of messages that are relevant
and useful," Facebook said in a Dec. 20 statement.
Facebook told ABCNews.com that the $100 private message offer is an
experiment not just with Zuckerberg but to those with a significant
number of subscribers. Remember, subscribers are people who aren't your
friends but can view the content you share with them because they follow
you. Facebook calls these subscribers a broader group of friends.
"This test will give a small number of people the option to pay to have a
message routed to the 'inbox' rather than the 'other' folder of a
recipient that they are not connected with," said Facebook. "If you
select strict filtering, you'll see mostly messages from friends in your
inbox."
Since reaching 1 billion
users last October, the social network giant has been revamping its
privacy settings and changing the look and feel of the Facebook
experience online and in mobile devices.
Facebook is "testing extreme
price points to eliminate spam" with its new messaging fee, the site
said. As users become more acquainted with the new messaging fee,
they'll notice the number of messages received will be limited to a
maximum of one a week.
Facebook told ABCNews.com there's a lot of filtering happening resulting
in getting the messages that are only meant for you, the user. As far
as the reaction to Facebook's new "paid messages" feature, Facebook
offered no comment.
