SYDNEY: Facebook and Instagram on Friday began a week-long rollout of their first paid verification service, testing users’ willingness to pay for social media features that were until now free.
Faced with declining advertising revenue, parent company Meta is launching subscriptions in Australia and New Zealand ahead of its rollout in major markets. The service will cost US$11.99 on the web and US$14.99 on iOS and Android mobile platforms.
Starting Friday, subscribers with government-issued ID providers can begin applying for a verified badge, which offers protection against impersonation, direct access to customer support and more visibility, according to the company. Can be offered.
“We will gradually roll out access to Meta Verified on Facebook and Instagram and expect to reach 100% availability within the first 7 days of rollout,” a Meta spokesperson told JEE News.
A few attempts to join Meta Verified from Sydney revealed that the service was unavailable on the first day of rollout.
“This new feature is about increasing authenticity and security across our services,” Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote in a statement posted on Facebook and Instagram.
Importantly, the move also gives Meta a way to generate more revenue from its two billion users.
According to experts, the growing army of creators, influencers and pseudo-celebrities who make a living online could be the obvious consumers of verification.
Many of them complain that technical and administrative issues can be difficult to iron out, leading to delays and reduced revenue.
‘Slow-burning strategy’
Jonathan Hutchinson, a lecturer in online communications at the University of Sydney, said some sort of “VIP service” could be “a pretty value proposition for a content creator”.
But before the launch, ordinary consumers seemed less than willing to hand over money to a company that was already making a lot of money from its data.
“I think most of my friends would laugh at it,” said Ainsley Jade, a 35-year-old social media user in Sydney.
She sees a trend towards a more casual use of social media and away from the time when you “put your whole life into it”.
“I think people are getting away with it … but definitely, definitely not going to pay for it – no way!
Some observers have wondered why Facebook and Instagram would adopt a verified membership strategy that rival Twitter tried just a few weeks ago — with less than stellar results.
But Hutchinson said Metta has often been willing to try new, and sometimes risky, models, only to abandon what doesn’t work.
He sees this latest move as part of a broader effort to condition consumers to pay for social media.
“I think it’s part of a slow-moving strategy to move to a model that’s not free, where more and more services and functionality will be a paid or subscription-based service,” he told JEE News. “
“I think the long-term functionality that we have now — joining groups, selling things on the ‘marketplace’ — all these add-ons that have emerged on Facebook over the years will eventually become subscription-based services. “
