Will you pay for Facebook?

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This may not be a universally popular sentiment but I have enjoyed Facebook tremendously over the years. It was my introduction to social media and it connected me to a multitude of people from all over the world.

1. Many of my peers have left South Africa over the years as crime and poverty grew in direct proportion to corruption in government. Facebook kept me connected to them.
2. My school years are very far behind me and I had lost contact with friends from those years until Facebook came.
3. I have been able to announce to a wide audience news about whatever project kept me busy and I gained support as a result.
4. I developed new skills and grew comfortable in a constantly changing environment.

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Then I discovered Steemit! It is also social, more so than Facebook in many ways. I'm convinced that I've come to know people better than on Facebook as I read their own thoughts written down. The emphasis on original content almost always adhered to on Steemit guarantees this. And to top it all, I can earn cryptocurrency on Steemit! It has become the first cryptocurrency I ever owned!

I still find this amazing. Someone as brand-new and inexperienced as I am can enter this world, create content, find an audience, earn and help others to earn. A great idea. A grand idea. A game changer!

Why have we never thought of this before?

Why is Facebook not doing this?

Then I read an article on a local news site asking the question, 'Will you pay for Facebook?'

Pay? Pay?!? As in me pay Facebook to do what Steemit pays me to do?

The article starts like this:

Facebook has been conducting market research in recent weeks to determine whether an ad-free version paid by subscriptions would spur more people to join the social network, according to sources familiar with the matter.
The company has studied such an option in the past, but now there’s more internal momentum to pursue it in light of Facebook’s recent privacy data scandal.
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Am I the only person who finds this completely baffling? In a world where Steemit exists, there is a guy who thinks he can get us to pay to create content. Huh?

Part of me thinks this is a hoax. Part of me thinks this world might just be crazy enough for it to be real.

If all the time I had spent on Facebook over the years creating content, I had spent on Steemit instead, my wealth would be huge! Just imagine how many friends I could have if I was rich instead of just pretty...

Please share your opinion with me!

@reonlouw