24/7 Wall St.

Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) has scrounged up another way that might make it money. So far, Wall St. has been disappointed about the revenue Facebook has managed to derive from its one billion users. The new scheme will allow the social network to collect $1 each for certain messages sent by members.

A revolt over the move is likely, because Facebook users revolt over almost everything the company does to their experience.

Facebook management writes:

Today we’re starting a small experiment to test the usefulness of economic signals to determine relevance. This test will give a small number of people the option to pay to have a message routed to the Inbox rather than the Other folder of a recipient that they are not connected with.

Several commentators and researchers have noted that imposing a financial cost on the sender may be the most effective way to discourage unwanted messages and facilitate delivery of messages that are relevant and useful.

Douglas A. McIntyre