Facebook is testing a feature that will let select
users pay $1 to send messages to people with whom they have no
connection on the social network.
Facebook said the option will only be presented to a "small number"
of users in the U.S. at this point, and people will be limited to one
paid message per week to start. Those who opt to pay for message
delivery will have their note dropped in a Facebook's user inbox rather
than the often-ignored "Other" folder.
"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
statement.
The $1 fee will open a thread with a non-Facebook friend. If that
person replies to your note, you won't have to pay again to respond to
them, a Facebook spokesman said. If the recipient moves your note to the
Other or Spam folders, however, you won't be able to pay to contact
them again.
Those selected to test out this product will see a "prompt" when they
attempt to contact a non-Facebook friend, the spokesman said. It will
inform users that their message is about to be delivered to the "Other"
folder, and give them to option to pay $1 to have it directed to the
Inbox.
Most Facebook users are probably not aware that they have an "Other"
folder. It made headlines in July when a bug within the API for certain
mobile devices
accidentally synched a user's @facebook.com email address
rather than their primary address. Emails sent to @facebook.com email
addresses from Facebook friends or friends of friends went to the
Facebook Inbox. Messages from anyone else were sent to the "Other"
folder within the Inbox. Many people - myself included - did not realize
this "Other" inbox existed, prompting us to think our messages had
disappeared into the ether.
At this point, messages from people with whom you have no connection
get delivered to this Other folder. But there is no notification about
that message's arrival; in checking it out for this story, for example, I
discovered a number of messages I'd never seen before from PCMag
readers (and a few weirdos). As a result, there are few ways to get a
Facebook message in front of someone with whom you are not friends.
Facebook said the option might be useful if you're trying to contact
"someone you heard speak at an event but are not friends with, or if you
want to message someone about a job opportunity."
"For the receiver, this test allows them to hear from people who have an important message to send them," Facebook said.
New Filtering Options
News of the paid-message option coincided with two new options for messaging filtering. Facebook
recently updated its terms and did away with the "Who can send me Facebook Messages?" option in favor of Basic or Strict filtering.
With Basic filtering, you'll see messages from friends and people you
may know in the inbox; this will apply to people who previously had
their message settings on "friends of friends" or "everyone." With
Strict filtering, your inbox will primarily include messages from
friends. This applies to those who had their settings on "friends."
The messages test comes several months after
Facebook started letting users pay
to promote certain posts. The feature lets you pay Facebook $7 for a
post you want to highlight, and your message will stay near the top of
your friends' and subscribers' news feeds for a longer period of time so
they're more likely to see it.
No
matter how carefully you’ve checked your Facebook privacy settings, it
can still be an eye-opener to see how your timeline looks to everyone
else on Facebook—friends and strangers alike.