Since May of 2012, Facebook began testing a feature in New Zealand where users can pay a small price to “highlight” particular updates or statuses. Normally Facebook’s news feed algorithm emphasizes updates from close Facebook friends or posts that have generated a lot of likes or comments. This new highlight feature allows particular status updates or posts to be seen on more peoples news feeds as well as stay there for a longer period of time. The idea behind this is that if your status updates stay longer on other users news feeds then more people will see the update.
I feel that this is an interesting move by Facebook and could either turn out well and create another stream of revenue or it could backfire and upset users. I can definitely see many useful applications of this feature, such as a person who needs to sell textbooks and wants to try to “advertise” on their status. I would also think that this might strengthen the confidence of current shareholders and maybe even attract new shareholders. This shows that Facebook is a company that has new ideas and isn’t afraid to test out different strategies to generate revenue. However, I feel that this idea could also backfire as it might give users the idea that their news feed will be polluted with people who paid to have their updates and statuses highlighted as opposed to connecting with close friends or viewing posts that have generated a lot of activity.