In testimony before the US Senate Judiciary and Commerce Committee, Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg suggested that the paid version of Facebook is additional opportunity, which will be available to users.
What Mark Zuckerberg said
During the hearing, Mark Zuckerberg made several interesting moments about possible paid Facebook versions- even though he did a lot of preparation before meeting with lawmakers to choose his words carefully.
Zuckerberg was asked whether his goals are the same as when he made earlier statements that Facebook would always be free.
Zuckerberg responded:
"There will always be a free version of Facebook. Our mission is to try to help connect everyone around the world and bring the world closer together. To do that, we believe we need to provide a service that everyone can afford."
This is a special phrase " Facebook version”, which suggests to many that a paid version may be planned for the future.
Later at the hearing, Zuckerberg was asked about recent comments by the magazine's editor-in-chief. Officer” on Facebook, posted by Shailene Sandberg about Facebook's paid products. Sandberg said the company does not offer users the ability to opt out of advertising or data collection because " this will be a paid product».
During the hearing, Zuckerberg explained:
Facebook is free, so why should I pay?
The simple answer to this question is a paid version that can protect your privacy. Although we have extensive privacy guidance, we know that only the individual user can do so. No matter how many settings you apply, the social network still stores an incredible amount of data about you, even if you're not on Facebook and just browsing random web pages.
The recent controversy surrounding the Cambridge Analytica scandal has demonstrated how much Facebook data stores information about its users. The company and its supporters have always said that this is necessary in order to offer free service, which is financed by advertising.
In a BuzzFeed article, science fiction writer Ted Chiang recently wrote that the purpose of Facebook is not to connect you with friends, but to show you targeted ads.
So, the paid version of Facebook will be free of advertising, and therefore does not require the company to track its users and store personal data in order to make money.
Facebook "Premium"
You've probably seen a few ads in the past offering a paid version of Facebook with additional functions and data protection.
This premium version of Facebook was often called "Facebook Gold". In case you didn't know, this is a scam as there is no such premium version and there never was.
If you have registered for any such service, please disable it immediately. If you paid for it, cancel the transaction and update your passwords and PINs.
Facebook shouldn't be an all-or-nothing choice.
We have determined that there is currently no paid version Facebook. This means you have the choice to either use it as is or delete Facebook completely. There are many reasons not to delete Facebook, but if you don't, you'll be stuck with it in its current form.
But is there another way?
You don't have to give up your online privacy to use an important service in today's world.
Yes, Facebook needs to make money. So why social network doesn't offer real choice to those willing to pay for it? What it loses in advertising revenue can be made up through subscription fees.
Facebook already offers a paid version for companies
We already know that Facebook is not against paid versions. Workplace by Facebook is a private social network for businesses offering both free version ad-supported and a paid premium version without ads.
This is one of those things you should know about Facebook, but most people don't seem to know about Facebook Workplace. The company doesn't advertise much about the Workplace model of offering free and paid versions because people will start asking awkward questions about why such a system isn't available on the regular version of Facebook we all know.
How much will the paid version of Facebook cost?
Facebook Workplace actually represents good value for money, but don't expect... paid access the regular version of Facebook will cost the same.
In 2013, Twitter co-founder Bee Stone suggested that Facebook would use a subscription-based model, where you could access everything Facebook had to offer for $10 per month or $100 per year.
Facebook will have to offer a paid version
Taking all this into account, it seems the time has come for the paid version of Facebook. But don't count on that happening any time soon. Despite Zuckerberg's apparent misstep, the company will fight this for as long as it can.
According to experts, the world's most valuable resource is data, not oil. And with over 2 billion active users, Facebook is currently the king of data, sucking it up at an incredible rate. This data is simply too valuable for Facebook to voluntarily give up. And this should concern us all.
Unless governments around the world come together to force Facebook to offer users paid versions of its services, it simply won't happen. It appears that regulation is a necessity in this case. Especially if we want Facebook to stop influencing elections around the world.
Facebook has officially announced the launch in test mode of a service that allows administrators to charge subscribers. Fees will apply for unique content and may range from $4.99 to $29.99.
Over the past few years, there have been periodic rumors online that the social network will sooner or later become paid. In a sense, they were justified, since groups can become paid.
Facebook is testing a new feature
For example, the maximum amount from the presented range will be charged by a group dedicated to American universities (Grown and Flown Parents: College Admissions and Affordability), whose subscribers will have the opportunity to discuss with professional advisers the conditions of admission and aspects curricula US universities. At the same time free groups will continue to work as usual, but closed subgroups with a paid subscription may appear in them.
On at the moment Facebook is testing new opportunity on “a small number of groups.” The company's product director, Alex Deve, said in an official statement blog social networks: “We hear from group admins that they are looking for ways to make money, and that this will increase their interaction with members and continue to support their communities.”
In addition to the group about American universities, communities dedicated to cooking, interior design and other topics will participate in the pilot program.
Facebook meets administrators halfway
At the same time, Deve emphasized that administrators could create closed groups and charge subscribers using external tools. The point of introducing closed groups is to “make it easier for admins using built-in tools, saving them time to work exclusively on content for subscribers.”
For example, the new closed group Organize My Home will charge $14.99 a month for access to “mini-projects, group assignments, training and real-time feedback” related to home improvement. Also paid subscription implemented by Meal Planning Central Premium, which offers weekly meal plans and recommended shopping lists from grocery stores.
“By analyzing the pilot launch and the reaction of closed group subscribers, we can continue to improve this area to help admins offer more to their readers and continue to invest in working with communities,” Deve said.
The Facebook community may be splitting apart.
Facebook users will be able to manage their subscriptions to closed groups through the app for iOS and Android. It is especially noted that during the trial period, Facebook will not take part of the groups’ profits, but may subsequently begin to do so.
Leaders of online platforms and social networks proclaim that their main value is bringing people closer together and uniting them. Mark Zuckerberg himself has repeatedly stated this. However, in reality, it turns out that they segment people by level of income - they divide them into those who are able to pay and those who are unable to pay, they create closed paid communities, and they make it difficult for people with average incomes to belong to a large number of different groups.
That is, the poor will be isolated in the free segment, people with average incomes will be limited to a small set paid groups, and only rich people will be able to afford a wide range of content.
This in itself is not a crime, but a completely understandable logic: administrators create interesting content and want to receive money for it. Group administrators will primarily benefit from the innovation. But the entire social network is unlikely to become closed and paid. The trend towards segmenting the social network audience by interests and income may intensify.
In general, business class passengers are invited to board first.
Recently, Ukrainian Facebook users, either as a joke or out of belief, have been sending each other a message allegedly written by the founder of the social network, Mark Zuckerberg. It states that you will have to pay to use Facebook. But if you spread this message further, then this social network will be free. And the user will not lose the page. This is a lie.
We submit a message that users send to each other in full:
“Hi, I'm Mark, CEO of Facebook. Hello everyone, it seems that all the warnings are real. There will be a charge for using Facebook. If you don't believe me, Facebook will be closed tomorrow at 6pm and you will have to pay to open it. This is all according to the law. This message informs all users that our servers have been very overloaded lately. We ask you to help solve this problem. We require our active users to forward this message to each of the people in your contact list to verify our active facebook users. If you don't send this message to all your facebook contacts, your account will remain inactive, causing you to lose all your contacts without transmitting this message. Your SmartPhone will be updated within the next 24 days and will have new design and a new color for chat. Dear Facebook users, we are going to update Facebook from 23:00 to 05:00 am on this day. If you don't send this to all your contacts, the update will be cancelled. You will not be able to communicate with your facebook posts. You will have to pay the rate if you are not a frequent user. If you have at least 10 contacts, send this SMS message and the logo will turn red to indicate that you are a Verified user... We've finished it."
Typically, all official information about Facebook updates can be read directly on Mark Zuckerberg's page. There, for example, he recently talked about the news feed algorithm.
Interestingly, the “message from Mark” was distributed by the social network back in December last year. And some users came across it as early as October. It's been quite a while, but Mark still hasn't updated Facebook. Why? Because it's just a fake.
Despite the fact that messages of this type appear from time to time on social networks, not everyone has yet learned to distinguish between them.
According to National Report, at the last press conference Facebook presented her new plan on monetization of the social network, and monetization will be achieved through the introduction of subscriptions. This information has not yet been officially confirmed, but it is not refuted either, Day.Az reports with reference to Mail.ru. The National Report publication specializes mainly in satirical, frivolous news, so the information may well turn out to be a joke by journalists.
“After giving this decision a lot of thought, we were ultimately forced to introduce a monthly fee,” said Mark Zuckerberg(Mark Zuckerberg), founder and CEO of Facebook.
"If we don't do anything about our ever-increasing costs, Facebook may simply cease to exist in the near future." According to National Report, Facebook users will have to pay subscription fee in the amount of $2.99 per month from November 1 of this year for access to the social network.
"This is great news for all Facebook stockholders," Wall Street analyst Dale Sackrider said in National Report. “In August of this year, 1 billion 317 million users were registered on Facebook, if at least three quarters of them paid for using Facebook, then every month the company will receive three billion dollars from maintenance alone. It's not just about earning a small amount, it can be a game changer from the first month of introducing this service."
Paul Horner explained in his interview the reason for introducing the subscription fee:
“Now is a difficult time, advertising on Facebook does not bring in the funds that we initially expected. Against this background, our expenses are constantly growing, since hundreds of thousands of people join us every day. There are a lot of photos of cats stored on the social network, all this adds up to our expenses, we just won't be able to pay the bills soon."
Horner also told reporters about an option for those who cannot afford to pay a subscription fee. To do this, you need to write the following text in your status: “I AM POOR FACEBOOK PLEASE WAVE MY MONTHLY FEE” (“Facebook, I’m poor, please don’t charge me a subscription fee”) and add the hashtag #FacebookMonthlyFee (monthly fee for Facebook). This message will reach Facebook's billing department and they will relieve you of the obligation to pay for using the site, National Report reports.
Unfortunately, for all those who refuse the paid version of the site, games will not be available. However, there remains one more option that allows you to use Facebook for an hour a week for free, and exceeding this time will cost $0.49 per minute. "I think you'll agree that it's very important to choose the right plan that best suits your Facebook usage pattern," Paul added.
Despite financial difficulties, the company periodically buys large projects, such as Oculus VR for $2 billion, the popular mobile social network Instagram for $1 billion, and the popular whatsapp messenger for 19 billion dollars.
At a press conference on Sunday, Mark Zuckerberg, the head of Facebook, announced that the social network will become paid, reports the American publication National Report. From November 1 of this year, users will have to pay $2.99 monthly to use the service.
“I thought about this decision for a long time, and in the end we decided to introduce a subscription fee. If we do not do something to balance the increased costs, Facebook may cease to exist in the near future,” the publication quotes Zuckerberg as saying
"This is great news for all Facebook shareholders," analyst Dale Sackrider said. “In August of this year, 1 billion 317 million users were registered on Facebook, if at least three quarters of them pay for using Facebook, then every month the company will receive $3 million just on services. This is not just earning a small amount, it can change rules of the game starting from the first month of introducing this service.”
A number of major media outlets believe that the information from National Report should not be trusted; even the disclaimer states that National Report is a news and political satirical online publication that may or may not use real names, often in semi-real or mostly fake news. All articles contained in National Report are fiction and are believed to be fake. Any similarity to the truth is purely coincidental" - thus the publication disclaims responsibility for the information provided.
The fact that the news is a “canard” can also be supported by the presence of instructions on how not to pay for using the social network. Allegedly, for those who cannot afford to pay a subscription fee, in their status you need to write the text “I am poor Facebook please wave my monthly fee” (“Facebook, I’m poor, please don’t charge me a monthly fee”) and add hashtag #FacebookMonthlyFee. According to the publication, this message will reach the Facebook department that deals with accounts and they will relieve the user of the obligation to pay for using the site.
Despite the reputation of the publication, the news caused a great resonance in the Internet community.
Facebook is a free service and we will never charge you for using the site. However, you have the option to make purchases related to games, applications and other items. In addition, if you use Facebook with mobile phone, please note that for Internet use and/or sending text messages Your mobile operator's rates may apply."
