Facebook has revealed this week that they are testing a new tool on their users from New Zealand, allowing them to pay to highlight particular posts they share with their friends and family.
They have been testing a range of charges for promoting user’s content, some posts cost £1.25 with others only 50p or 20p. These payments can be made through pay pal or credit cards.
“We’re constantly testing new features across the site,” said the spokesperson. “This particular test is simply to gauge people’s interest in this method of sharing with their friends.”
Facebook are keen on finding new ways to make money due to the recent slowdown in revenue over the past six months in comparison to the rapid growth it had seen previously. However, owner Mark Zuckerberg has always said that he wants to make money to run the company, rather than run the company to make money.
Do you think that highlighting stories in this way could have benefit for your practice’s Facebook page or do you think these needs are already catered by using Facebook Ads?
My opinion is that stories are already shown in the newsfeeds of those that have already liked you and for those that haven’t yet liked you, they can be accessed through Facebook ads; so is there really a need for this ‘pay to promote’ feature from a user’s perspective?
Leave a comment with your thoughts!