Twitter co-founder says Facebook should charge users Jul 22nd 2013, 09:38
By Stuart Miles | Pocket-lint –
Twitter's co-founder Biz Stone has suggested that Facebook should offer to let users pay for access to the social network and in return remove all ads from the service.
"I've got an idea for Facebook. They could offer Facebook Premium. For $10 a month, people who really love Facebook (and can afford it), could see no ads. Maybe some special features too. If 10 per cent of Facebook signed up, that's $1B a month in revenue. Not too shabby," wrote Stone on Medium, a collective editorial blog site.
Stone says that since he has started using Facebook again recently, the adverts really annoy him and he would be happy to pay for a premium version of the site if Facebook promised to remove the adverts.
It's an interesting concept and one that follows Spofity's ad free model if you pay £9.99 a month, however even though some newspapers, like The Times, insist you pay to access your content, it still shows adverts.
Meanwhile Facebook for Every phone, the feature phone version of Facebook is now being used by over 100 million people each month according to the social network.
The app, which works on over 3,000 different times of feature phone, shows that Facebook's users aren't just about the latest and greatest devices like the Samsung Galaxy S4 or iPhone 5.
The number represents one in 10 users of the social network, suggesting that while it's always going to be a niche part of the business
"Today, millions of people in developing markets like India, Indonesia and the Philippines are relying on this technology to connect with Facebook, without having to purchase a smartphone," said Facebook in a note detailing how proud it is to reach the 100m milestone.
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