Comments on: Facebook Fees?

By: Kel

Kel — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 17:44:23 +0000

vaga, thanks for sharing your perspective. i would imagine the issue takes on a whole new meaning if you are unemployed. i appreciate you taking the time to share your thoughts. good luck with the job search!

By: Vaga

Vaga — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 04:50:55 +0000

I would not pay for Facebook. I would leave it and get a lot more done at home. I think that paying for something that isn’t necessary is bad planning. A luxury that I don’t need. Sure I would miss it but I’m unemployed and counting my pennies. Internet I pay for because of the information that it provides. If it would go up drastically it would be gone also. Just FYI if they decide to put a tax on it.

By: Kel

Kel — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 15:21:07 +0000

happy to see facebook generated $650 million in revenue in 2009 and didn’t charge its users a penny.

http://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-wont-be-a-multi-billion-dollar-company-for-many-years-2010-3

By: Kel

Kel — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 13:19:27 +0000

melody, your perspective is aligned with the majority of peeps who responded to this post. the good news is that at a recent $14 billion valuation, many people think facebook will figure out how to make money soon:

http://techcrunch.com/2010/01/20/facebook-valued-at-14-billion-on-secondmarket/

By: Melody

Melody — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 22:28:59 +0000

Neither me or my husband would pay to be on facebook, although we spend sometime on it and we love it, we wouldn’t pay for it. They would loose more people then you might think if they start charging, then someone else will start another website where we can all go and socialize and facebook knows this.
It would be a stupid move on there part, especially with the economy the way it is.

By: Kel

Kel — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 18:53:20 +0000

bo, i deserve that bitch slap. thanks for reminding me. my comments were certainly not considering countries where the majority of the population are financially challenged. i appreciate your insight. thank you!

By: bo

bo — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 13:30:08 +0000

what all of you are forgetting is that $1/month or whatever amount facebook may elect to charge its users is not cheap to those of us who do not live in wealthy countries.

i am always stunned with how seriously misinformed those raised in rich countries are when they claim that such expenses are low. please speak for yourself. here in india, that $1 per month would be a couple of percent of a regular, labouring person’s monthly wages. such people as you can imagine have no disposable income. would you be willing to pay any web site even 1/100th of your income??? /!\

By: Kel

Kel — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 22:35:39 +0000

megan, i think a lot of people feel the way you do. i’m sure my 20 year daughter is slightly disturbed that a bunch of her old relatives are now all over facebook and invading her space. this post was written a year ago and the debate continues. the good news is there are no fees yet! thanks for taking the time to comment. i appreciate hearing your perspective. peace out.

By: Megan

Megan — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 22:05:43 +0000

I would not pay. This is crazy that they would think of this idea. I joined facebook back when only people going to college with an authentic college email address was the only way you could get an account. I thought that was when facebook was at its best. Facebook was invented by a college student who just wanted a way for people to be able to connect online for networking and school communication. Since then it has blown up and gone to the public, which is fine, but making people pay for it monthly is just dumb. There will be a new social site that will pop up for free if this happens and probably destroy facebook. If I had a vote, I would keep it the way it is. Public and free.

By: Mandy

Mandy — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 14:01:22 +0000

I don’t use my phone period while in the car. I guess you could say I love my car my then the internet. Never thought that was possible! Haha

By: Kel

Kel — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 13:29:10 +0000

mandy, just don’t drive your car while searching the internet on your phone. that is illegal in some states. haha.

By: Kel

Kel — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 13:27:32 +0000

keith, i think the second a substantial number of someone’s friends drop off, the experience is diminished. it will certainly be a balancing act for everyone.

By: Mandy

Mandy — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 07:36:34 +0000

I would much rather drive my car then search the internet on my phone.

By: Mandy

Mandy — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 07:26:09 +0000

I totally agree with you Wes! I pay enough as is why in the world should I ever have to pay more! I mean seriously. Like the people that pay for internet on their phones why???? I figure I have a computer for that! Unless of course your a business person I really dont see the point. I got a phone with wifi because other wise I would have to pay another $25 a month for internet on my phone and that to me is a waste of money. That’s half a tank of gas…..

By: Keith

Keith — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 20:09:49 +0000

Well, Classmates charges, and the pool of people that pay is small. You really do not get your $ worth. If 1/2 of your friends do not pay, and they are the ones you really like, will you stay much longer either? Also, what is the goal of the owners, millionaire or billionaire? Why can’t it just be a steady income?

By: Kel

Kel — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 23:37:52 +0000

peg, if you find a new love as good as facebook, please let me know. i’m open to a threesome. haha.

By: Peg

Peg — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 14:32:08 +0000

I would never pay to use Facebook. I love it, but I’d have to find a new love.

By: Kel

Kel — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 15:09:42 +0000

wes, maybe you should run for senator in massachusetts. clearly anyone can win there. haha….i mean sigh.

By: Wes

Wes — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 03:57:03 +0000

People agree with me? That’s the second time that’s happened this year. I may run for Pressydent now!

By: Kel

Kel — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 20:09:47 +0000

thanks wes. i appreciate your thoughts. i tweeted about this too and almost everyone who responded agreed with you 100%. clearly you are not alone in your thinking.

By: Wes

Wes — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 19:54:02 +0000

About Hulu launching a subscription fee: I would simply stop going there. There are MANY other places to go to watch classic (good) television that are still free.

I feel that I’ve already paid three times so I can access the internet (computer, electricity, cable isp). Once I get to the internet, I refuse to pay for access to the sites on the internet.

I’m sure there will be some who disagree with me. You’re welcome to your opinion. Please return the courtesy and allow me to have mine.

By: Kel

Kel — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 16:22:38 +0000

thought everyone on this thread would find this interesting: hulu is looking at a $5/mo subscription fee. this will act as a great live focus group for facebook. i’m interested to see how peeps respond to it.

http://www.businessinsider.com/hulu-looking-at-5-monthly-subscription-fee-for-older-episodes-2010-1

By: Kel

Kel — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 20:48:33 +0000

i appreciate you sharing your thoughts zaida. even after 64 comments, i think you bring fresh insight and thinking to the discussion. thanks for that.

By: zaida

zaida — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 17:52:35 +0000

fb is a wonderfully convenient service to society. they have a right to charge a service. i probably would not pay to use it. however, for those that use fb as advertising for their business, those would be the ones to lose since a good chunk of the millions of people that currently use fb would most likely dimish, which means advertising on fb would no longer b as effective. fb, in turn, would see a reduction in the #’s of paying advertisors which would not be positive for them. my opinion is charge a fee to use the annoying app/games that friends tend to bombard you with, and continue the current business model of charging for advertisments on the site.

By: Kel

Kel — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 19:57:27 +0000

james, thanks for sharing your story. i too have fond memories of many college bars. haha. seriously though, i do hear what you’re saying. the only difference is that when you went to that first bar, you still had to pay for your drinks. the bar still needed to make some type of revenue to exist. i wonder if you were more upset that the owner changed the look/feel of the bar (and then it didn’t fit your style) versus increased drink prices. for the record, i am not endorsing that facebook start to charge fees. i am only providing some type of balanced argument that there is no such thing as a free lunch. i believe it is fair for them to charge something for the services they provide. now whether that’s $1/mo, $1/yr. $12/yr is the big question. while i think people threaten to leave, i’m not sure they would if they fee was only $1/mo. — especially if all their friends stayed and used the platform to communicate with each other. with any luck, this entire thread of conversation will be a moot point because facebook will successfully monetize through other b2b means like advertising.

By: James

James — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 01:45:19 +0000

Never ever ever will I pay for what Facebook offers. It is a convenience and not a necessity. Before Facebook talked with my core group of friends via phone and IM and I could easily go back to that.

I remember back in my college days, there was this cool dive bar that EVERYONE around used to go to because it was a cheap and easy place to gather with friends and to meet new people. But then someone came along and decided that they wanted to profit off of all of people who gathered at this spot. They bought out the owner and polished things up then jacked up the prices. All of a sudden things weren’t so cheap and easy and people just stopped going there…including me and my friends. The new place only lasted 6 months before it was closed down for good.

It’s kind of a sad story for me because I have some very fond memories of that time and it is a shame that it was destroyed because someone didn’t really understand why we all kept showing up to that crappy dive bar.

I’m not sure if this story of mine relates to a potential Facebook monthly fee. But I think the potential is there to screw up a very good thing.

By: Kel

Kel — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 23:15:46 +0000

michael, i am curious as to how you consider it greed. they are providing a service that costs them money. do you work for free? i respect your opinion and am just trying to get my arms around your perspective. i appreciate you taking the time to comment.

By: michael

michael — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 06:35:48 +0000

not a chance that i would pay a fee to use facebook. not even one penny. something else will take its place with me. no reward for greed.

By: Kel

Kel — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 18:16:15 +0000

gary, your comment was the most level-headed, reality-driven response i have seen on this subject. thanks so much for sharing your perspective. while i’m sure many of the readers of this blog will disagree with you — as evident by the many emotional responses — i think you hit the nail on the head all around. there is no such thing as a free lunch.

By: Gary

Gary — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 06:14:05 +0000

well in the end there has to be money going from clients to the servers; the only thing that can change is the number of hands the money has to go through to get there. so if facebook stays with the ad model & it’s not successful, or not as successful as they would like it to be, then they will need to change either the types of services they advertise or the model all together. personally I’ve never really believed in the ad model: it explicitly depends on other services/products in order to make money. I think that a small fee would keep a large portion on facebook, although there will always be users (like me) who will never pay for certain things.