Facebook Trials Promoted Posts

Facebook users could soon be able to catapult their posts to the top of their friends’ newsfeeds – if they are willing to pay.

A system that allows users to promote posts is currently being trialled in New Zealand, the BBC has confirmed.

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Facebook says that the aim of the trial is to see how willing its users are to pay for their information to be displayed prominently to friends and family. According to those who have discovered the trial, users can pay from anything between 25p and £1.25 to flag up their posts, a fee which is payable by card or PayPal. There is no word on when the trial will expire, nor if it will be extended to countries and territories beyond New Zealand.

Such a system would be similar to how Twitter markets Promoted Tweets, which appear in users’ timelines even if they are not following the company or organisation in question. Google and other search engines also make money by placing sponsored ads in search results.

It had been rumoured that Facebook was planning to place adverts directly into users’ newsfeeds itself in an effort to increase its share in the online advertising market. The social network already places ‘sponsored stories’ on the right hand column of certain screens.

Yesterday, Facebook announced its new social application hub App Center. These applications often include the facility for users to purchase virtual goods using Facebook’s credit system. The social network takes a 30 percent cut from these microtransactions and Zynga, developer of popular social game Farmville, generates 15 percent of Facebook’s total revenue.

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