Facebook brings message charges to Israel

Facebook is set to introduce its new pay-per-message system, which gives users the ability to send notifications to people they aren’t friends with without their missive being relegated to a holding folder.

The system has been trialed in the US and England and will now be implemented in Israel, News1 reported on Wednesday.

The average fee for a message will be around NIS 2 (55 cents). The service ensures that it arrives in the recipient’s inbox rather than being funneled into an “Other” folder along with spam messages. Facebook said the plan aims at reducing spam messages while giving users the option to draw a recipient’s attention to a message they feel is worth the cost.

The actual cost of sending a message can vary and is dependent on the number of followers the intended recipient has. The more followers, the more expensive it is to put a message in his or her inbox. According to a report from ABC at the beginning of the year, a message to Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg will set back the sender about $100.

At the time, Facebook said it was “testing extreme price points to eliminate spam” with its new messaging fee, ABC reported.