From time to time there are rumors of facebook charging for membership of the site. The latest facebook charging rumor going round is as follows:

“FACEBOOK JUST RELEASED THEIR PRICE GRID FOR MEMBERSHIP. $9.99 PER MONTH FOR GOLD MEMBER SERVICES, $6.99 PER MONTH FOR SILVER MEMBER SERVICES, $3.99 PER MONTH FOR BRONZE MEMBER SERVICES, FREE IF YOU COPY AND PASTE THIS MESSAGE BEFORE MIDNIGHT TONIGHT. WHEN YOU SIGN ON TOMORROW MORNING YOU WILL BE PROMPTED FOR PAYMENT INFO…IT IS
OFFICIAL IT WAS EVEN ON THE NEWS. FACEBOOK WILL START CHARGING DUE TO THE NEW PROFILE CHANGES. IF YOU COPY THIS ON YOUR WALL YOUR ICON WILL TURN BLUE AND FACEBOOK WILL BE FREE FOR YOU. PLEASE PASS THIS MESSAGE ON IF NOT YOUR ACCOUNT WILL BE DELETED IF YOU DO NOT PAY”

If you see someone posting this as their status then don’t believe it, it is not true and none of the other rumors of facebook charging are true either! Firstly, even if facebook were to charge for membership, they would not release the information like this, through people adding it to their status. They have everyone’s email address and it would be the kind of major change that would need people to know about it well in advance and agree to it.

But before we even get into that, the chances of facebook charging for membership are pretty minimal. Would you actually pay for facebook membership? I for one would not. There are plenty of options out there for keeping in touch that would make it impossible for facebook charging to occur. Twitter, mySpace, Linked In and now Google plus – there is no way facebook would survive if it were to start charging.

Facebook already earn money through advertising revenue and that has been expanding in the last few years as brands and even small companies realise the power of facebook, but facebook charging for membership? Not in my lifetime.