Facebook Rolls Out Paid Promotions for Individual Posts

Friends ignoring your rants about the Federal Reserve? Facebook has the solution!

Facebook has long declared that it's "free and always will be." And it still is - unless you want more friends to see what you have to say.

The social media giant is rolling out a feature in the U.S. that lets users pay to promote their posts to friends, just as advertisers do. Facebook has been testing the service in New Zealand, where it tries out a lot of new features, and has gradually introduced it in more than 20 other countries. Facebook said Wednesday that promoting a post - such as announcing a garage sale, charity drive or big news like an engagement - will bump it higher in your friends' news feeds.