Facebook and Instagram switch to paid subscription: "Meta enters a trial phase"
The Meta Group logo, outside the company's headquarters in Menlo Park, California, in November 2022. AP - Godofredo A. Vásquez
Text by: Ariane Gaffuri Follow
4 mins
Meta offers a paid subscription for Facebook and Instagram.
Mark Zuckerberg, its founder, had however promised that its social networks would always be free.
They will remain so, but if they pay 12 dollars per month, Internet users over 18 will be able to display a blue badge, a guarantee of authenticity.
They will be better protected against identity theft and better relayed.
At the moment it is being tested in Australia and New Zealand.
This will then be extended to the United States and around the world.
Why is the group derogating today from its sacrosanct gratuity?
Answers with Jean-François Faure, founder of Aucoffre.com and tech specialist.
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RFI: Meta offers a paid subscription for Facebook and Instagram. Mark Zuckerberg, its founder, had however promised that its social networks would always be free. What exactly does this paid offer offer?
First, Meta is entering a trial phase since this paid formula will be deployed this week only in Australia and New Zealand.
This is with a view to certifying the accounts, to allow those who wish to have a verified label.
It's the famous blue badge, added next to the Facebook or Instagram ID.
It is reassuring, because it indicates that the profile of the person being followed is indeed the right person and not a usurper who could disseminate false information.
Facebook or Instagram, however, remain free for users who do not wish to see it paying, so the initial promise is kept.
In addition, paid accounts should be better valued than others.
Yes, that's the goal.
But we are waiting to see what that means exactly.
In the Instagram or Facebook algorithm, will these accounts stand out better when a story or any information is published?
We do not know yet.
It remains quite nebulous and I'm not even sure that they know it themselves!
This is why Meta does not launch its project right away across the world and first tests in Oceania.
Internet users who opt for the paid offer must be at least 18 years old. Does this concern everyone, individuals and businesses?
So indeed, over 18, because you have to be able to pay for this subscription.
And it is a subscription in a logic, as I said, of certification and valuation of the account.
This may therefore be of interest to an influencer or a professional.
This is a feature that is actually quite sought after.
Currently, what acts as verification is having reached a very large number of followers.
But, for example, you are a photographer, it is your activity and you only have 600 followers;
it's those 600 followers that matter.
The blue badge shows that your account has been verified, that it is yours.
It is a protection, because unfortunately, fake accounts are very frequent.
For a professional, it is clearly worth the expense because social networks are
important today.
They are major communication tools.
As proof, some professionals do not even have a website, they only have pages on social networks, whether on Facebook, Instagram or now TikTok.
Why is Meta offering a paid plan now? Is it because, like other Gafam, which made record profits during the pandemic, it is experiencing a decline in profitability?
Clearly, Meta is launching this project because its turnover and profitability are down.
The number of users is also decreasing.
Facebook is considered a bit old social network.
Instagram, on the other hand, has a little trouble finding its audience, between Facebook and TikTok, because the audience that today occupies social networks is rather young and quite versatile.
He tends to quickly change communication media when he considers that the one he uses has become obsolete.
Meta is forced to fight against this.
So it's a response in a logic of profitability, but not only.
Meta also sees that the competition, for example Twitter, adopts premium paid models and that ultimately it is additional.
VS'
that is to say that it does not reduce the traffic of standard users, it is a gain which is added to the advertising gain.
Why miss out on this windfall?
So it's also a pragmatic choice, maybe in the face of the sense of history, which is to set up premium accounts to stand out from the flood of accounts and fake accounts that exist.
►Also read: Meta, the parent company of Facebook announces the loss of 11,000 jobs
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