[Frocer]

While this irks me because I use LI quite a bit, but this is the reason why LinkedIn > Facebook. They know how to monetize really well.

I have always wondered why Facebook doesn't charge annual fee for their service. They are at the point where if they charge me $20/year, I am too dependent on it to not pay that fee. While you can argue another free service may come along and take all that away from Facebook, but building a 250M user base is not trivial...

[ujjwalg]

Personally speaking, I wont pay if facebook starts charging me $20/year. Rather, it might improve my life because I wont waste anytime on it. However, if google starts charging for gmail, I will totally pay an annual amount as long as they open a customer service center.

[jedc]

They don't charge because a good number of people won't pay that $20/year. And if those friends/colleagues/family don't pay and aren't on the site, it becomes less valuable for you. And then suddenly you won't pay the $20. :)