Facebook Tries Charging Users to Promote Posts

Want to make sure your friends see your latest uber-important Facebook update? Now you can—if you live in New Zealand and are willing to drop a couple bucks. Facebook is testing a service in the country that allows users to pay between about 40 cents and $2 to highlight posts, the BBC reports. A user who spotted the offer and reported it to the media thought he was being conned at first. Nope, said a Facebook rep.

"We're constantly testing new features across the site," and "this particular test is simply to gauge people's interest in this method of sharing with their friends," the rep tells the BBC. Some other highlighting systems will be free, the rep added. Between Facebook's IPO and its slowed revenue, "we're going to see a lot more ideas like this where they are testing out different ways to try to make money," says an analyst. (More Facebook stories.)