Does Facebook need to monetize the platform?
All the evidence is that Facebook won’t start charging to set up an account but…
- LinkedIn offers users an upgraded version with additional facilities on a subscription basis
- other services offer similar options
Since the introduction of advertising and recent Instant personalisation and the apparent drive to monetize the platform we may see something similar.
The willingness of users to sign up and provide all that data and through their interactions, their likes, dislikes and interests is a very attractive proposition for behavioural targeting and would-be advertisers.
Given that the attraction for business is the size (over 500,000,000 last June) and demography of its user base and the ability to target ads and content quite specifically to age, sex, location, interest groups or combinations, Facebook would be shooting themselves in the foot if it tried to charge users.
No charge for basic services
Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook COO, perhaps hinted when she confirmed that they would not charge for basic services.
That might just leave the door open, particularly with the increase in ads and growing uptake by business, for a subscription based business account with extended services tapping into the full user demographics.
There is a lot of user data Facebook still don’t reveal to its users but on a subscription basis…
Facebook might just charge!
Rumour, Scaremongering, Reality! What do you think, will it ever happen?
