Facebook Status: This Cost Me $2

You CAN buy popularity: Facebook are a- charging New Zealanders $2 for “highlighting” posts

Facebook CEO Zuckerberg has enough dosh to make plenty of posts….

In a new trial, The Social Network is letting Facebookers from across the ditch pay a nominal sum to get their posts to feature prominently on their own and peeps pages.

The charges Facebook are asking a test group to fork out to “make sure friends see this” ranges from free, $0.50c and up to $2, according to Stuff NZ.

Highlighted posts may rank higher in news feeds, stay visible for longer, and be seen by more friends, says techcrunch. However, the tool is optional and users can still post for free.

This marks the latest bid by The Social Network to make money from the site, which currently teetering towards 1 billion members as it prepares to go public next month, with Mark Zuckerberg and his team currently wooing investors with its bottom line and growth projections.

The new look-at-me posts, if unleashed, for real could prove a hit with narcissists (not that we’re suggesting any such folk are on FB) and other attention grabbing types…(cue Kim Kardashian & co).

No word on how the trials are going down with FB test users in NZ – there’s 1.4 million in total – but it could spell the beginning of the end for free love Facebook users give one another, in the form of messages, status updates and ‘likes.’

But the Social Network’s local spokesperson said the feature is simply a test to gauge interest in the tool.

Click to enlarge

“We’re constantly testing new features across the site. This particular test is simply to gauge people’s interest in this method of sharing with their friends,” a spokesperson told Stuff.

And speaking of posts, Facebook also just announced improved design for posts in news feed on smartphones where photos are up to 3x larger, and all posts fill a mobile screen edge to edge.

The new design will be available on iPhone, Android and m.facebook.com.