Are you referring to Facebook like pages? They've been essentially pointless for a while now, since you only get onto your followers feeds if you "boost" a post, money that for a "poor" or "just starting up" new venture is better spent elsewhere.
What they did was genius - encourage everyone to make their Facebook following central to their online marketing strategy, then lock them out unless they cough up.
> since you only get onto your followers feeds if you "boost" a post,
Actually most people and new ventures on Facebook get plenty of buzz without paying a cent. This is done by relying on your friends and getting happy customers to repost stuff from your page, thereby reaching new audiences organically.
I've been told by people who do this sort of thing that an algorithm change in the last 6 mos. or so has made organic buzz much harder to get going on FB without paying.
To a small extent. Yes, they make you pay to "promote" a post higher in a user's timeline who simply liked your page.
But I'm talking more about organic buzz, whereby for instance your friend shares something from a page or talks favorably about it. There is no option to pay to promote those shared posts. The priority of those shared post depends more on how good of a relationship you have with your friend and how much engagement facebook thinks it will get form it.
What they did was genius - encourage everyone to make their Facebook following central to their online marketing strategy, then lock them out unless they cough up.