Facebook now charges for messaging to strangers

Lee3dee

Tried to message someone not on my friend's list, and this came up



nice to see there's now a premium when connecting to a non-friend.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-20810341

Japhir

but it still gets sent to his "other" folder, like it is now. The only difference is, you can pay to have it sent to their inbox instead.

Will Faucher

Whaaaaaaaaaaaaat. I can understand that this is some spam-prevention method, but geez.

Skillmister

Japhir wrote: »

but it still gets sent to his "other" folder, like it is now. The only difference is, you can pay to have it sent to their inbox instead.

Which they will never see because they don't appear in the chat as far as i can tell, only if you open the message page. And even then you have to click on 'other' which i've never done considering i just checked and i've got unreads in there from 2010 that i'd never seen.

ambershee

Yup, they did it quite deliberately. It doesn't really reduce spam, just prevents non-friends from contacting you.

Japhir

Skillmister wrote: »

Which they will never see because they don't appear in the chat as far as i can tell, only if you open the message page. And even then you have to click on 'other' which i've never done considering i just checked and i've got unreads in there from 2010 that i'd never seen.

Yeah, but that has always been the case. But once you reply to any of them, it gets moved to your inbox and you will get pings of future messages in that conversation.

leslievdb

you didnt pay a signup fee so there isnt much to complain about, if they start asking money for other things this way it wont stay that popular much longer.

i dont get it, they must be getting a shitload of money from advertising anyway

binopittan

I just send message to random stranger. Work just fine for me, no charge etc

Japhir

In the article they say they're trying it out on some (random) US citizens.

notman

I'm failing to see why this is an issue for anyone here? Do you often send something to someone you don't know (other than a friend request)? Hell, send a message via the friend request (I believe you can do that). Honestly, I don't ask this to be an ass, I'm just curious if there is a scenario, that I'm not aware of, that wouldn't involve spamming someone.

Seriously, I have never once sent something to someone I'm not friends with, and I'm glad they will have some sort of deterrent for those trying to do it to me.

Torch

Great, how am I gonna message the people I stalk on FB now

Justin Meisse

I thought this was an avenue for advertisers to message you.