An option for users to pay to promote their personal posts within their friends’ News Feeds has continued rolling out to more users. According to The Next Web, Facebook confirmed that they are testing this new feature within a controlled group and are looking to expand the offering to more accounts.

When this user content promotion offering originally surfaced it was coined “highlight”. But, Facebook seems to have done away with that action name and replaced it with “promote”, which also happens to be the same name for a similar advertising feature for facebook pages.

Those users who are selected to be a part of this expansion, will notice a promote button next to the normal like and comment buttons on the post. When the promote button is clicked by a user, they will be taken through a payment gateway from where they can use paypal, credit card. The promoted post appears at the top of friends or subscribers’ News Feeds with a marking that signifies it was a paid promotion.

This is a test. And Facebook, of course, will be monitoring the success of this pilot program. While many have had their speculations with Edge Rank and the paid promotion offering for pages (forced payment to achieve a high level of audience reach), we are left wondering if Facebook is playing the same game for users? Are users in jeopardy of not having their posts seen unless they promote? Time will tell.

Preston Taylor

An advocate for a free and open web and a serial entrepreneur, Preston has an in depth working history online with ecommerce, content creation and affiliate marketing. Most recently, Preston has had both the opportunity and pleasure to serve the Internet Marketing Grind Forums as a moderator.