Facebook trials fee payment scheme for contacting celebrities

Social networking site, Facebook has started charging UK users up to £11 to send messages to celebrities and other people who are not in their circle of friends.

A test scheme launched by the company in the UK, allows users to contact some celebrities for fees.

Confirming the experiment, Facebook said it did not know yet whether it would be implemented across the social network.

A spokeswoman said it was being tested among a very small percentage of users.

She added, there was no set timescale and it depended on what happened and what feedback the social network got for its roll out nationally. She added, Facebook was testing a number of price points in the UK and other countries to establish the optimal fee that signaled importance.

She added this was still a test and prices were not set in stone.

Facebook has been trying out charges at its US operation since December, and the trial had now been extended to a further 36 countries, including the UK.

According to Facebook, the charging fee structure varied depending on several factors including the number of followers and a secret "fame" algorithm.

The proposed payments were aimed at preventing users being bombarded with ''spam'' messages, the website said.

The social network had earlier allowed members to send messages from their account to strangers for free.

While the messages were originally put automatically into a user's inbox, it has recently started storing them in a less conspicuous ''other'' message box, leaving the inbox just for friends and family.

In December last year, the website introduced a new system of charging $1 for over-18s to send messages to strangers' inboxes. The messages included an automatic alert feature, meaning they would be more likely to be read.

Extending the trial, the site has now created a sliding payments scale for contacting celebrities, public figures and ordinary users outside the sender's usual network.

Fans wishing to send messages to Olympic diver Tom Daley would be charged £10.68, while those hoping to contact author Salman Rushie could do so for £10.08, the Sunday Times reported.

A spokesman for Facebook, confirming the new system was in the process of being put to trials insisted it was aimed at preventing spam.

''The system of paying to message non-friends in their inbox is designed to prevent spam while acknowledging that sometimes you might want to hear from people outside your immediate social circle,'' Facebook said in a statement.