New paid Facebook and Instagram subscription: what’s behind Mark Zuckerberg’s announcement

After Twitter users, those of Meta platforms (Facebook and Instagram) will be able to wear a blue badge that guarantees their authenticity and better promote their messages for a dozen dollars a month.

The paid subscription was presented by the head of the Californian group on Sunday, Mark Zuckerbergafter having defended for almost 20 years an economic model based on free services and advertising.

Meta Verified subscribers will be able to verify their Facebook and Instagram accounts by presenting an official ID card, and then wearing a “blue badge” that proves they are who they say they are.

Your account will be better too protected from the risk of identity theft.

In case of problems, subscribers can contact customer service employees directly.

And your messages, photos and videos will be promoted above the others, appearing in the first search results, comments and recommendations.

Meta promises new creative features

The subscription will initially be available in Australia and New Zealand this week, then roll out to other places, starting in the US.

It will cost $11.99 per month for users who purchase it online, and $14.99 for those who sign up via mobile apps (to offset the Apple or Google fee).

Subscription is optional and the platforms will remain free. Affected users must be over 18 and it won’t be available to businesses, though Meta isn’t ruling out including them in the future.

The new offer is aimed above all at content creators: Meta explained to the AFP news agency that it had devised Meta verified based on requests received from emerging creators.

But for the expert Carolina Milanesi, the formula lacks coherence by offering functions that meet the needs of different types of users: authentication for official bodies and personalities, promotion for influencers, security that should “apply for everyone”.

“I’m not sure there are enough things for each of the categories of people to justify the expense“,She said.

Diagram for having more income

Meta’s strategy was born when historical social networks saw their number of users grow and their revenues decrease.

In 2022, the group’s advertising revenue fell for the first time since it went public in 2012.

Advertisers’ budget inflation, users’ attention is divided among the many applications and these are no longer able to collect as much personal data as before the intervention of the authorities (especially the European ones) and Apple to better protect the privacy of users.

The fight of the platforms.

The battle between the platforms then moves to the side of the creators “who produce the contents that capture the attention of the public”, explains Milanesi. But that’s not enough.

Snapchat, Reddit or Discord offer access to additional tools for a few dollars a month.

Twitter, acquired by Elon Musk last year, has muddiedly launched its own “Blue” subscription for $7 a month online or $11 on iPhone.

Blue allows you to have the famous blue badge that guarantees authenticity, better promote your messages, see double the advertising and have more freedom when writing longer tweets, among other functions.

“In my opinion, Meta will above all try to diversify its sources of income. Twitter has been launched and the others say they will try too,” says Milanesi.