Social networking site counters its members’ claims
If rumours spread like wildfire among circles of friends, in online social networks, they tend to detonate like an atomic bomb. Which explains why it didn’t take long for hundreds of thousands of Facebook members to register their discontent when they got wind the popular site was planning to start charging for the use of its services. Two separate groups, whose collective membership totals about 200,000, have organized on Facebook in an attempt to keep the site free. According to the more popular of the two groups, Facebook intends to initiate a monthly fee about about $25. Facebook, however, vehemently denies there is any movement afoot to make members pay. Says a spokesman: “We have no plans to charge users for Facebook’s basic services. Facebook is a free service for its 350 million users.” According to Snopes.com, the rumour appears to have been started by a fake email to Facebook subscribers.