Facebook Set to Charge a Fee This 2011 Summer

So, there seems to be yet another viral message going around that Facebook will soon be charging its users a nominal fee for use of service this summer. If you haven't noticed yet, there is a post going around asking for other members to repost in their status boards, in order to avoid being charged a Facebook fee. The post looks something like this;

"It's official. signal at 12:20 it even passed on tv. Facebook will start charging this summer.If you copy this on your wall your icon will turn blue and facebook will be free for you. Please pass this message if not your count will be deleted. p.s, this is serious the icon turns blue, So please put this as your status"

Apparantly, this is just a hoax, as many reputable sources are confirming, such as Sophos and Huffpost Tech. Sources are saying that this viral message, or viral post is yet another elaborate scheme by some random person(s) to try and see just how many people will take the bait and repost the viral message to their status boards. This viral message is remaneiscant of that regarding that Facebook would shut down come March, 2011. The official word from Mark Zuckerburg and his Facebook team confirmed that no such thing was to happen in the year 2011, or any other time for that matter, especially when the company had just received a 500 million dollar investment from Goldman Sachs.

There has been no official word on this new viral message from the Facebook team, but promising reports from sources suggest that there will be no such thing to occur. In the past, there have been many sources, amongst the viral messages, that suggested that there would be a monthly fee charged to users for use of service, including a report in blogloadz, where Facebook would soon charge members $0.99 for basic service and go as high as $50 for full services.

Talks on such a theoretical matter has many Facebook users in an uproar. Many are saying that they would leave Facebook if there were to be a fee charged for services. Others have even suggested "going back to Myspace." The key thing to consider here is that while the company may see some revenue from charging a fee for users, there may be even more of a loss-over this gain, as disgruntled users would close their accounts. Also, in this troubling economy, no one wants to add on to their expenses any more than they have to. Not to mention, the new Goole+ application has just launched and its services are for free. Many Facebook users may then convert to the Google+ platform in such an event that Facebook starts to charge users a fee. It seems that the risk outweighs the reward, and the economical team of Facebook has to be well aware of this. Perhaps this is why the service is still free.

It is a back and forth thing amongst the internet world as to what exactly the plans are with Facebook and its approach toward charging users a fee. However, as it currently stands, Facebook has not shut down, as we have passed the March 2011 deadline, and so far, the website is still currently free.

Craig Kanalley, Facebook Charging Rumor Goes Viral As Video Chat Announced, HuffpostTech.com http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/06/facebook-charging-rumor_n_891548.html

Jet H. Disco, Facebook to Charge Users, Blogloadz.com http://blogloadz.wordpress.com/2011/02/05/facebook-to-charge-users/

Graham Cluley, Facebook to Start Charging This Summer? Hoax Spreads Across Social Network, Sophos.com http://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2011/07/03/facebook-charging-this-summer-hoax-spreads-across-social-network/