Today in TechFacebook starts testing an option to promote your personal status updates… for a price
A small number of Facebook users have recently been handed a weapon that enables them to post status updates that stand out from the crowd. It's called Highlight, and it guarantees that most of your friends will see your post by displaying it high up in their news feeds for a longer span of time than usual. The catch? You may have to pony up some cash to give your update its time in the spotlight.
We say may because the feature is at its early testing phase, and Facebook reportedly slapped different price tags on it, from free to a couple of bucks. In an interview with Stuff.co.nz, one of the first to report the feature's initial rollout, Facebook spokesperson Mia Garlick said: "This particular test is simply to gauge people's interest in this method of sharing with their friends."
While it may end up as a free service, Highlight could very well become one the ways Facebook earns money directly from its 900 million users, which is something that would benefit the social network in the long run. According to an amendment to its IPO filing, Facebook's advertising model is in jeopardy because people are starting to use mobile internet more and more, and its mobile website isn't serving up as many ads.
There's no doubt that Highlight will be a great way to bring attention to extremely important status updates. Know someone who's gravely ill and needs help? Want to raise funds for an animal shelter? Looking for lost relatives or pets? In those cases, having the capacity to highlight your post will help tremendously. But we also know that some people might end up abusing the privilege and flooding your news feeds with as many highlighted posts as they can afford.
[Image credit: Franco Bouly, Stuff.co.nz]
[Stuff via Business Insider]
This article originally appeared on Tecca
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