Microsoft surprised me yesterday when they announced that Facebook and Twitter on the Xbox 360 would only be available to Xbox Live Gold members. Maybe surprised isn’t the word. My first thought was, ‘of course.’ But then I had to wonder, why?

Why only Gold members? Sure, it adds yet another reason to throw down the $50/year subscription fee, which is pretty minimal cost for the value you get as a regular player. Adding social services to Xbox Live falls in line with the “entertainment hub for your home” strategy that Microsoft has been pushing, so why not make the services free? It may not get more subscribers, but it has the potential to sell more consoles.

I think it’s safe to say that the average Silver member would probably remain Silver even after the two services become available. After all, these are the uber-casual, the people you probably couldn’t entice to sign up with free ice cream. Pitching these services to those people won’t make one bit of difference.

There are plenty of other reasons to try to charge money for this stuff, but the Xbox Live subscription fee is so minimal, and the cash likely already designated to other aspects of their business, that Microsoft would probably see more total value from making the services free. It may not be a ton more, but you’d almost certainly have more people with a controller in hand more often. Isn’t that the dream, after all?