Rumor: Facebook Will Charge A Monthly Fee
The latest “invite-all-your-friends” Facebook rumor is yet again centered around the popular social networking site claiming they will be charging a monthly fee.
There are numerous variations of the rumor out there, each claiming a different dollar value to be charged by a specific date. These groups and fan pages even go on to say that if a specific number of people join the page, Facebook will reconsider.
It’s pure bunk.
Here are a few examples of groups grabbing the interest and attention of well over 2 million people combined so far:
– 850,000+ people
This one is quite funny actually, as it posts a proposed monthly fee of $14.99 and £14.99 – the same supposed monthly fee. Anyone who has paid any relative close attention to either economies will realize that there is quite the drastic different between the 2 amounts once converted to the same currency.
As of today, 1 British pound = ~1.6 U.S. dollars, making the claimed fee to US users actually $23.99 monthly.
The group creator also claims that Mark Zuckerburg will sell the site due to its popularity, and some mumbo jumbo about Facebook being 3 years old – all of which is untrue. The creator, Jordan Taylor, is a 14 year old kid from the UK, with obviously too little to do with his time as the news states
“has been saved thankyou and this was no hoax”
300,000 MEMBERS NEEDED TO STOP FACEBOOK FROM CHARGING £/$14.99 A MONTH
Additional groups and pages gathering way too many fans and members include:
– 417,000+ members joined
– 657000+ fans joined
– 18000 members joined
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Facebook has no intention of charging a basic monthly fee, let alone selling the network. Just this past Thursday January 21st, Facebook announced the ground breaking ceremony of their brand new, and extremely expensive, custom being built in Oregon. It is highly unlikely that any company is going to undergo a project such as this, with the supposed intention of selling within a few months.
In an April 2009 interview with BusinessWeek Editor-In-Chief Stephen Adler, Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg was asked and answered:
ADLER: Does Facebook plan on charging a membership fee? Over three-quarters of its users are going into a panic-induced assumption that this is true, even though there hasn’t been talk of a membership fee from the business press or Facebook itself. So can you calm the panic?
SANDBERG: The answer is no, we are not planning on charging a basic fee for our basic services. Once again, that question stems from people thinking we’re growing so quickly we’re running out of money. We’re growing really quickly, but we can finance that growth. We’re not going to charge for our basic services.
Based on Sandberg’s reply, it’s obvious that “basic service” use of Facebook will remain a free service. It does however leave the door open for the possibility of an upgraded paid membership service.
Keeping in mind that Facebook is a business, and adding a paid membership program is an extremely viable and sensible business option. In my personal opinion, such a program would be geared towards the marketing and commercial aspects that Facebook seems to be targeting lately.
More and more big business brands are seeing the lucrative advantage to using Facebook for their promotional marketing, as so far have been able to do so at zero cost. It is no wonder that Facebook would love to have a share in their windfall.
Would you be willing to pay a fee to use Facebook, if you were granted additional features? If so, leave us a comment below, including what additional features you would like to see added!
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If they start charing for Facebook there is NO WAY that I will use it….it will be their death! Find other ways to generate revenue!
No, I would not pay even for additional features. And I would probably leave if some of the features we already have become part of a paid membership program. T
Please read the article before posting. They have no plans for basic services, which is what we have now. If they want to add premium services and charge for them, more power to them. Facebook is a business, they have to have income or it’s gone. Yes, I know they get $$ from advertisers but if they can add other services and increase their income, more power to them!
I agree 100% Debi. While everyone loves to use Facebook, I think very few actually consider the astronomical costs involved in managing the network.
I agree with you too Debi. It makes total sense for a business to come up with ways to generate revenue! And despite what people say, if Facebook was reasonable in their fees, some people would pay them for “premium” status and having a few extra bells and whistles. Most of the people saying they’re totally against any fees don’t realize the time and salaries and hardware costs, backups, etc, etc that go into a project like this. I can’t fathom what even their electric bill must look like.
In all reality, facebook has stabilized it’s costs at this point. the major fluctuations will occur with the seasons as the air temperature gets warmer (headed into summer) as the A/C unit will be required to “work” more hours and harder to keep the servers within operating limits. The initial costs have already been taking out of the way, I.E. the hardware, domain, buying property to store servers, etc etc. So facebook has a predictable month to month operating costs which the revenue they pull in from advertisements far exceeds operating costs.
The biggest things they have to worry about now are internet bandwidth and speed (with more users you are going to need more, its a known fact), electricity, taxes, and hardware failure. Backups are relativity cheap if you do it in house, its just initial equipment buying and replacing broken hardware. Now where facebook can save money is they don’t have to back up as often as say a larger, real time company such as Verizon or AT&T.
Employees are always a variable, as you lose some, gain some, promote some, cost of living, etc etc. But they are fairly predictable, business’s have models to figure out how much they are going to have to shell out, even for people.
In laymen terms, facebook has a predictable monthly payment, and money from the advertisers far exceeds what they need to pay out.
That all depends on just what will be defined as “Basic” services. If what is available to us right now will be considered as basic service …great! If I wanted to use Facebook to generate more customer leads for my business, I would understand that it would cost me an upgraded membership.
I would not pay even for additional features. And I would probably leave if some of the features we already have become part of a paid membership program.
“This one is quite funny actually, as it posts a proposed monthly fee of $14.99 and £14.99 – the same supposed monthly fee. Anyone who has paid any relative close attention to either economies will realize that there is quite the drastic different between the 2 amounts once converted to the same currency.
As of today, 1 British pound = ~1.6 U.S. dollars, making the claimed fee to US users actually $23.99 monthly.”
-Joanne Dolles
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I recognize the point that you are trying to make – the rumors that you are trying to debunk are indeed false. However, what you point out as absurd in the above quote is actually quite a standard business practice. For example, iTunes charges £0.99 / $0.99 per song downloaded. Indeed, as you point out correctly, this means that British users will be paying about 60% more than American users in terms of a direct currency conversion!
No Fees Please. I would no longer be able to converse with my family and friends. I am on disability and have limited income. I pay $1,200.00 just for medical insurance every month. There is no way I could afford a monthly fee.
My long distance family would be disconnected again from me. FB brought us together and now we share everything pictures of newborn cousins to who is getting married and ever to who is cheating on who. I’ve met so many wonderful friends. This keeps my mind off my disease so please don’t take this away from me.
Thanks for listening.
Hi Maura…Although we are not Facebook and have no say in anything, I am sure you have nothing to worry about. The article detailed that Facebook clearly stated basic services would remain free
I can understand the business sense of charging for some services but it really does depend on what those services are. With other free sites in existence and the option of setting up “Yahoo Groups” I suspect many “average” users would leave. Certainly I would. FB charges for advertising and those silly virtual gifts anyway, so this could be an extension of that use. However, if I am expected to pay for what what I all ready have access to, which is effectively a free email, clubs and societies, then as I say, I would leave.
Facebook does not charge for virtual gifts. The developers of the individual applications offering the gifts are the ones who charge for them.
The only thing I’ve seen FB itself charge for is an option for if you have a page (not a profile) like for a business or to promote something like you being a writer or something… You aren’t paying for the page. If you want to promote your page in the ads around FB, yes, you pay a small fee for that. I have two pages, I wouldn’t mind promoting them… but at this time I don’t want to just yet. That’s the only thing I’ve seen.
No I will not pay for any service on facebook. Facebook is not a necessity and once facebook attempts to get in my purse I will close my account immediately. Everyone is out to get our money and I will not pay! Having to pay for internet service is bad enough and any attempts by facebook to start charging will be a very unfriendly gesture.
There’s no reason to even debate this little hoax. But people should be concerned that phishing scams are looking for people passwords. Those same gullible people should also be on the lookout for fake emails that might ask them to pay a fee to access their Facebook account. That’s the lesson to be learned with this hoax.
i agree with the comments made re charging for extras and understand that facebook is a buisness but i would have to leave if they decide to charge for the site as it now is
Personally, I am at peace with the knowledge that FB will not be charging for their basic services but rather the “upgraded” features that it might put in later. I myself would pay for upgraded features like…..oh I don’t know….the apps working?….I find that even if I get a white screen of death on a game app that the ads are shiny and clear 24/7……why is it that the apps fail but the ads never do?