Yahoo Finance Facebook to test paid groups as it expands the number of paid services on its site
Facebook will allow some groups on its site to charge a monthly membership fee, the company announced on Wednesday.
Group members will pay between $5 (£3.79) and $30 to become members of premium communities, Facebook said. Example groups that will charge for membership include a home organisation community and a budget cooking advice group.
Facebook isn’t going to take a cut of the membership fees while the test runs, but the experiment gives Facebook the opportunity to make more money in the future from the 1bn people who use its groups feature.
Facebook is gradually positioning itself as a way for internet creators to reach their fans, and to make money from them. Earlier this week, Facebook released a tool to let companies and individuals host their own live video quizzes. It is also now allowing people on the site to charge money for exclusive content.
Earlier this month, Facebook launched a dedicated site for video game streaming, which competes with Amazon-owned rival Twitch. Game streamers will be able to receive paid tips from people watching their streams, which is a new source of revenue for Facebook.
Video game streaming has become extremely popular in recent years. Games intelligence company Newzoo estimated that Twitch and YouTube Gaming saw 2.5 billion hours of view time in the first three months of 2018.
Chief executive Mark Zuckerberg hinted in his testimony to the US Senate in April that the company could move away from advertising. “There will always be a version of Facebook that is free,” the chief executive said.
Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s chief operating officer, also suggested that more paid Facebook features could be released in the future.
Sandberg was asked by NBC News whether the social network would release a feature which would restrict advertisers from accessing someone’s data. "We don't have an opt-out at the highest level,” Sandberg said. “That would be a paid product.”
