Both Venture Beat and Mashable had coverage last week of a Facebook feature currently being tested called “credits.” I thought “credits” was a April Fool’s Day joke that just wasn’t all that amusing. Apparently, it wasn’t.
Here’s an excerpt from the Venture Beat coverage that explains how it works:
When you leave a comment on an item, you’ll see a field where you can enter the number of credits you want to give the person who created the item. You’ll also see the number of credits you have available to give — you can choose to give up to the number of credits you possess. You can only get credits by buying them in Facebook’s virtual gifts store — $1 for 100 credits — or by receiving them (or by getting some free when you start using credits, although Facebook is testing how many to make available that way).
Once you’ve left a comment with credits, you’ll see the credits appear next to the comment, following the feature’s green plus symbol icon. There’s no other way to create credits at this time. This means people need to think twice before giving their credits away.
“No brainer” or “no brain”?
For Facebook, it’s a no-brainer. Getting users to exchange real cash for virtual compliments doesn’t have a downside. And, they’re the coolest social networking site on the block. They’ve proven that they are adept at rolling out ideas then, if they tank (or worse, aggravate people), they can backpedal without too much damage.
For Facebook users? My guess is that the average Facebook user’s response is “thanks, but no thanks.” The idea is, well, clunky. While there’s likely far more behind this than what’s being exposed at this point, in response to one’s status giving someone a quick text retort or clicking a ‘like’ link feels natural. Giving them ‘money’ they can spend on tchotchke or re-credit to someone else’s clever status does not.
What do you think? How will Facebook users respond?
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