Instagram is rolling out Subscriptions to more creators, as well expanding it with more features. Announced by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Subscriptions is a tool for creators to engage more with their most dedicated fans through a paywall.
The monetisation tool has been in the works since last year, as Instagram confirmed after it was leaked that the company was developing “Exclusive Stories“. The tech giant then revealed earlier this year that it was testing out Subscriptions with a small number of creators in the US before eventually launching it to a wider base.
With Subscriptions, influencers can leverage on their fanbase by charging them a monthly fee for exclusive content. Creators can give subscribers access to exclusive reels, stories, lives, posts, group chats with up to 30 subscribers at a time, badges, and a subscriber tab on the creator’s profile page.
The purple crown badge will appear next to a subscriber’s username when they comment on a creator’s post or when they direct message creators. The price of subscriptions range from US$0.99 (~RM4.40) to US$99.99 (~RM444) per month and according to Instagram’s FAQ, existing subscribers won’t be affected whenever creators change their price.
CEO Adam Mosseri said that since the company launched the Subscriptions alpha back in January, it has expanded the programme to thousands of creators in the US and has plans to connect it to more regions, although he did not specify when this might happen.
Instagram now joins other established social media sites that are allowing creators to charge users for subscriptions. This includes Twitter’s Super Follows, Facebook subscriptions, and the upcoming Snapchat Plus.
The company has recently been adding an arsenal of new features on the platform such as a desktop producer tool for live videos, pinning posts on profiles, and an AMBER alert system in several countries. Just like with Twitter, Instagram is also working on implementing NFTs.
(Source: Mark Zuckerberg/Instagram, The Verge)
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