Would you be willing to pay up to $30 per month for a verification badge for your Facebook and Instagram profiles? The goal: to authenticate and protect your account. But is it really worth it?
Since February 19, Australia and New Zealand have been the first countries to have tested the new subscription service set up by Meta for Facebook and Instagram: Meta Verified. In exchange for the subscription fee, you will receive a verified badge that authenticates your account and further protects it against identity theft.
Other advantages : you’ll access account media and have increased visibility and reach as well as exclusive features to express yourself in a unique way.
Plus, you’ll get exclusive stickers for Stories and Reels, and also receive 100 free stars per month, or digital currency you can use to tip creators on Facebook.
In instagram postMark Zuckerberg wrote:
“Long term, we want to create a subscription offering that is valuable to everyone, including creators, businesses, and our community as a whole. As part of this vision, we are evolving the meaning of the verified badge so that we can expand access to verification and more people can be confident that the accounts they interact with are authentic. »
Doesn’t that remind you of a similar feature at Twitter?
Thinking of Twitter Blue?
Well seen !
The move aligns closely with Elon Musk’s revamped “Twitter Blue,” which was unveiled in November 2022. Unlike Twitter, however, Meta clarified that there will be no changes to the accounts that have been verified due to prior “authenticity and notability” requirements.
On the price side, the monthly subscription service will start at $11.99 per month on the web or $14.99 per month on iOS or Android.
When the service was launched in Australia and New Zealand, it costs $19.99 AUD on web and $24.99 AUD on mobile, or $23.99 NZD on web and $29.99 NZD on mobile.
Meta has officially opened its waiting list for users wishing to sign up for the paid verification service and will be directly notified when the feature goes live in their country.
To sign up for Meta Verified, you must meet minimum activity requirements, be at least 18 years old, and submit government ID that matches the name and photo you have on Facebook or Instagram.
Last year, Meta had lost over $600 billion in market value. For analysts, even if this decision is not totally irrelevant for Meta, it does allude to a lack of innovation at the social media giant, without a clear business model.
The company even reported a year-over-year drop in revenue on the other over the last three consecutive quarters, partly due to the colossal investment in the metaverse, thus surely justifying the layoff of more than 11,000 workers since the end of last year.
For Tama Leaver, Professor of Internet Studies at Curtin University in Australia:
“Meta has always had copy in its DNA – Instagram’s Reels is just one of a long list of prominent examples – so it’s no surprise that, seeing Twitter get away with offering features of base as a premium service, Zuckerberg is trying to do the same. »
At Twitter, attempts to charge users for features, including increased promotion by its algorithms, have drawn widespread criticism, with many threatening to quit the platform.
However, Snapchat and Discord have also introduced paid subscription tiers for users without a similar level of outrage, suggesting the dislike of Twitter Blue may be tied to Musk himself and wider concerns about the platform. .
Will Meta follow this trend? To be continued…
#Facebook #Instagram #paid
