Facebook has revamped its Messages service to allow more contact between those who have Facebook accounts and those who don't, and for a $1 fee, those who aren't even your friends.
The social network begins rolling out the updated messaging service, Facebook's version of e-mail, later today. The changes -- which go nicely with the no-Facebook-account-necessary feature of the network's latest Android messaging app -- include newly named filters for your inbox. These determine if a message goes into your inbox, the folder you usually see when you open up messages, or into the abyss, also known as the "Other" folder. The network is also testing a paid message feature.
Facebook said its newly renamed filters will address this issue. Instead of setting your inbox to receiving messages from Friends, Friends of Friends, or Everyone, the new setting is called "Basic Filtering." Your in-network settings won't change, but taking away the specific restrictions -- only messages from Friends or from Friends of Friends -- allows Facebook to deliver you messages from people who aren't on Facebook without triggering the spam folder. Similarly, the Friends setting will change to "Strict Filtering." You'll only get messages from your Facebook friends, and Facebook's algorithm -- which pays attention to who is in your network as well as which messages you choose to move to your inbox -- will help determine if the person sending you an e-mail from outside Facebook really is your friend.
What a dollar gets you
For those instances when people want to connect but have no connections at all, Facebook is testing a way that lets them pay $1 to send messages directly into your inbox rather than your Other folder. Facebook said "several commentators and researchers" think a fee will keep unwanted messages out and encourage relevant messages:
For example, if you want to send a message to someone you head speak at an event but are not friends with, or you want to message someone about a job opportunity, you can use this feature to reach their Inbox. For the receiver, this test allows them to hear from people who have an important message to send them.
This is similar to the way LinkedIn does its InMail service, with one caveat. If you don't any connections to person on LinkedIn, you have to pay for them to get a message. Anyone can send you a Facebook message for free, but if you don't have connections, the message will most likely end up as spam in your Other folder, not your main inbox.
A Facebook spokesman said this paid message feature is part of a small test, rolled out to a small percentage of users in the U.S. who will receive one of these messages per week at most. "Brands can't use this feature, not at the moment," he said.
If this feature becomes a staple, it could be another form of revenue for the now public company looking to make money. The collective changes would also foster more communication within Facebook and opening up the lines of communication is how Facebook plans to gain more users.
*Facebook does it again!
It's all about making those green-backs for the online social networking giant.
By revamping it's messaging service and giving it's users another option to get messages out there; is fast becoming more and more the "it" company to model your own business after.
At this time, no one knows how popular this option will become, but with facebook being already so popular, just about anything it does, will be popular.*
Diva's Nation
*Join The "Facebook Fine-Tunes Messages Filters, Tests $1 Option" Conversation*
No comments:
Post a Comment