

Facebook Charging $100 to Message Mark Zuckerberg - rustc
http://mashable.com/2013/01/11/facebook-message-mark-zuckerberg

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sheri
I think this is really cool. The price point will definitely deter random
spammers who just want to talk to Mark. But it is low enough for someone who
wants to reach out to Mark to be feasible. If I had a brilliant idea I wanted
Mark to know about, I'd be stoked. There is no guarantee that he will read it,
but if someone paid 100$ to message him, he might be intrigued.

Most likely he has some folks to review those messages, and bring a (select)
few to his attention.

~~~
slig
> If I had a brilliant idea I wanted Mark to know about, I'd be stoked.

(...)

> Zuck: People just submitted it.

> Zuck: I don't know why.

> Zuck: They "trust me"

> Zuck: Dumb fucks.

~~~
dspillett
That quote is taken a bit out of context methinks.

As much as I might dislike or distrust the man, and might consider $100 worth
the chance to send a one-off drunken insult, I can see that intended as self
deprecating humour. I do it about myself all the time: "what sort of fool
would trust the likes of me with _that_ " said to the person who has just
indeed trusted me with what-ever "that" is, for instance.

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SODaniel
$100 to send, and how much to guarantee that young Mr. Zuck actually READS the
message? :)

~~~
dudurocha
Linkedin Actually guarantees that they will read your message, or they will
give your money back.

~~~
analyst74
I'm curious, how is this different from normal messages?

Edit: after thinking about it, I guess the fact you're paying to message
someone would impress the recipient, thus enticing them to reply.

~~~
dudurocha
They call it 'InMail'. The difference is that the recipient has to make an
action in the message, or your money returns. You have some InMails according
to the plan you chose to pay.

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andrewreds
according to [1], Mark Zuckerberg makes $310.67 per second... so $100 will buy
you under one third of a second of his time... I hope you are not expecting a
long reply.

[1] [http://www.best-reviewer.com/how-much-money-does-mark-
zucker...](http://www.best-reviewer.com/how-much-money-does-mark-zuckerberg-
make-2053.htm)

~~~
prezjordan
Maybe when Facebook was still private and rising in value? I don't see where
that income lies today. His salary is slightly over $1mm and $FBs value isn't
shooting up anymore.

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jweir
Now this would be great if I could turn this on for my inbox and set the
price.

~~~
mtgx
And you get 70%.

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pcote
Slightly off topic but I'd easily value communicating with my peers at $100. I
have the good fortune of working with smart people who, despite the importance
of their own projects, are willing to help me if needed. The time of others
has value and I think it should be used accordingly.

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joshfraser
This reminds me a lot of the scheme that conference organizers set up. They
might charge $5,000 for you to attend because that way you know you'll be with
other high caliber people. They use money as the filter and just happen to
profit as a result.

~~~
jpdoctor
> _This reminds me a lot of the scheme that conference organizers set up. They
> might charge $5,000 for you to attend because that way you know you'll be
> with other high caliber people._

Spoiler alert: Those things are complete scams. The conference organizers pay
for some big names to show up, and then fleece the people who have $$ but no
power or access.

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prawks
_Keen Facebook observers will recognize this as a variant on the $1 pay-to-
message plan that the social network has been experimenting with for months._

Welp, time to get all of my family's email addresses and close my FB account.
Really the only thing I use it for at this point, and not valuable enough to
pay any amount of money per message.

I don't like siding with Mashable on many issues, but I really hope FB isn't
this hungry for new revenue streams.

EDIT: Welp, now I need to friend my family members to message them for free.

~~~
paulgb
If I understand correctly, you only pay that much to go to the inbox if you
aren't a friend with the person. Friends message friends for free.

It's actually pretty clever, I think. It's too high for unsolicited spam, but
it's a trivial amount for the very rare instance of wanting someone you're not
a friend of to read it.

~~~
prawks
Ah, thanks for the clarification. This makes sense, and I think was actually
mentioned in the Mashable article. My mistake.

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jbrooksuk
I could imagine this would be worth it, on the guarantee that you get a
personal, thoughtful reply. Not "ok" or "no".

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joeblau
This is similar to the telco model where they charge texts and phone calls.
Charging for communication is really the only way I see Facebook ever hitting
its IPO valuation. This example is a bit extreme, but if they can figure out
how to charge for the communication aspect, they may have a nice business.

------
digitalzombie
I'll pay him $100 to stop all these drama stories about Mark Zuckerberg.

It's seem like every now and then I hear stories about his sister, or how he
dupe some guy for facebook, got duped in paying $1 billion for instagram, and
now this.

Seriously, he's like a drama queen.

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theklub
How about someone make a marketplace for this exact sort of thing? "Contact Y
for $X now!"

~~~
citricsquid
Someone has built that and posted it here a few weeks ago, I can't for the
life of me remember the name though. To get around transaction laws they had
"credits" though, so you couldn't cash out which sorta killed the idea for me.
I'll try and find the post.

~~~
thedangler
transaction laws? You can't send someone money to talk to them?

~~~
citricsquid
I can't find the link now, I've been through every Show HN from the last 3
weeks and I can't find it. I distinctly remember it said something along the
lines of, "due to transaction laws your coins can only be donated to charity"
or something. Maybe that was how they make money; people forget about their
"coins" and "charity". Hopefully someone else remembers it, all I can remember
is:

Weird name. 3 founders. Video presentation at some sort of incubator (maybe
techstars?) and they had a... brown website? I think it was brown.

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mikeweiss
Brilliant, wonder how much $$ this feature will bring in.

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ojr
brings a whole new definition to "money talks"

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thedangler
This is why their stock is going to sore. :)

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optymizer
Doesn't work for my account :/

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arbuge
I plan to message him to complain about the price.

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denzil_correa
Insanity prevails.

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OGinparadise
Small price really and he probably reads them, unless a lot of people pony up
that $100. He's the founder /CEO or the world's most used site and worth north
of $20 Billion...

~~~
jsymolon
His paper worth maybe not his value (IMHO). He got lucky and his _team_ pulled
Facebook through the rough times till the network effect kicked in and
everyone had to be on Facebook.

He's got 1 hit and I rather pay another guy with multiple hits (and failures)
that $300/hr.

I want the experience not a lottery ticket.

~~~
OGinparadise
_" He got lucky and his team pulled Facebook through the rough times till the
network effect kicked in and everyone had to be on Facebook._ "

Lucky for 8 years with all those decisions and all those competitors? Luck
alone isn't it

