The End of Facebook As We Know It?

[boost]

It's not. See above post about the rates they're charging.

it is, (I can't believe I'm saying this, but..) reference Ong's post directly above yours.

Also, from the little I've read, it's not only blogs, small business, corporations, etc, but this is also happening to you and me. Sure, for us to have our status "promoted" so all our friends can see it may only cost us $5, but this still seems a bit absurd. We are what makes FB what it is. We give content, they provide a service. Now they want us to give them our content, AND pay them for the service? Maybe the symbiotic trade agreement between users and FB is simply not a viable business model, but charging users for status updates hardly seems like it will be a viable long term business plan either.

Furthermore, while I don't think FB should be responsible for this, throttling the reach of users could have detrimental results in the way the platform has been adopted by social movements. Look at the Arab Spring. What would that have been if all social media was setup to be pay per post? Social media has radically changed the way we communicate and interact with each other, and I do concede that it isn't Zuckerberg's responsibility to provide what we've come to expect, I think it's a bit irresponsible to drastically change the medium. It's sort of an example of how contrasted legality and morality can be.