Recently I saw some people posting in their facebook status something along the lines of ‘re-post this before October 1st or Facebook will start charging you for your account’ it’s similar to others I’ve seen, which went along the lines of ‘re-post this before xx date or facebook will delete your account’ Both of these are daft and annoying, Facebook will never charge you for it’s service due to it’s business model and I think that an account would be deleted for inactivity a long time after you’d forgotten about it!
But just to help re-assure some people out there though, when I found this great article on the Mashable website I thought I would share it with you.
Article taken from Mashable website click here to read the original piece
The rumor that Facebookwill suddenly start charging users to access the site has become one of the social media era’s perennial chain letters.
While Facebook prominently advertises that its service is “free and always will be” on its homepage, it hasn’t stopped false rumors of a pay scheme from going viral on numerous occasions, most recently in conjunction with the major profile redesign that the site announced earlier this month.
Given the ubiquity of these rumors, we thought it was worth exploring their origin — and why we can guarantee Facebook will never charge you to use its service.
A Long History
On AIM, this took the form of IMs that needed to be shared with friends to avoid account deletion. On Friendster, rumors spread that the service was getting “too crowded” — and hence, they needed to determine which accounts were active and remove those that weren’t. On MySpace, word was that the service was getting so popular that the site would soon start charging members, and the only way to avoid the fees was to — you guessed it — forward the message to your friends.
Of course, none of these situations ever actually materialized, but it didn’t stop millions of users from passing the message along. Snopes has a detailed overview of these scams and others that have permeated the web over the years, going all the way back to the early days of Hotmail.
Facebook’s Business Model
More importantly, the company’s business model revolves around having as many users as possible. Remaining free is paramount to doing that. Facebook makes its money on highly targeted advertising that’s based on the plethora of data that its members share on the site. Restricting users’ ability to use the site would actually be detrimental to that model.
Facebook didn’t even introduce its ad platform until 2007 — because the company wanted to focus on adding users as quickly as possible.
That’s not to say social networking sites haven’t found success in charging members for some services. LinkedIn offers premium memberships with features such as enhanced search, direct messaging and seeing who has viewed your profile. Some dating sites, like Match.com and eHarmony charge users to message each other. Still, those services are appealing to a specific audience — Facebook’s goal is to connect everyone in the world. That can’t be done if you need a credit card to use the service.
Why It Will Never Charge You
Of course, Facebook is in business to make money. Beyond advertising, it has found ways to profit directly from its users through Facebook Credits, a form of currency that can be used on the site in social games like FarmVille and Mafia Wars.
In the future, we expect Facebook to find additional ways to monetize. The company could grow its credit system to become a rival to PayPal. We could also see Facebook extending its ad platform beyond the social network itself and onto the wider Web — in order to compete with Google’s AdSense.
There’s also potential in ecommerce. Although Facebook’s Deals product fell flat, an increasing number of merchants are starting to sell their wares directly on the social networking site. Might Facebook one day provide its own tools for powering such activity? It’s certainly possible.
The one thing that all of these models have in common is that they need a critical mass of users to be successful. Facebook has that, and would never risk losing it by charging people for basic access to the tools that make its multi-billion dollar business work.
Article taken from Mashable website click here to read the original piece
BUSTED: Burglar Arrested After Checking Facebook During Robbery
One of our favourite social media stories during the past week, Facebook use leads to arrest of burglar.
Facebook use leads to arrest
According to The Journal, a 19-year-old Pennsylvania man was arrested earlier this week on a charge of felony daytime robbery. How did police catch him? Simple: the burglar left a trail, by way of checking his Facebook account before leaving the house with two diamond rings and forgetting to log out.
Jonathan Parker remains in custody on $10,000 bail, facing a maximum 10 year prison sentence if convicted. A friend of the defendant said Parker had asked him for help breaking into the victim’s house the previous night, so things are not looking too good for the perp.
So what do you think: is this a case of Facebook addiction, or just a very dim burglar? We’re sure there’s a burglar out there somewhere getting ready to tweet his thieving antics and maybe put up a photo album of his swag on Flickr…isn’t social media great!
What the F**K is Social Media: One Year Later
We just found this on-line thanks to Perry Belcher (http://twitter.com/PerryBelcher) hosted on www.slideshare.net.
It’s an excellent presentation by an American/Canadian firm Espresso (http://brandinfiltration.com/) highlighting the power and importance of Social Media.
Take a look at the presentation and let us know your thoughts. The figures make you realise how important Social Media is, and why you need to be part of it! Need help, then drop us an e-mail or pick up the phone and give us a call (enquiries@itpie.co.uk or 02920711607)