Facebook and Instagram introduce subscriptions. It’s the end of twenty years of free social networks
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Twenty years of free social media for everyone is coming to an end. Though not for everyone. With a surprise announcement Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, announced a paid subscription service for Instagram and Facebook users who want to access a new set of services offered by the platform.
In exchange for the “blue check” Meta will offer technical support and account verification with an official identity system to avoid fake profiles. Options designed above all for companies and for those who, like content creators, work thanks to the use of social networks.
How the blue check of Instagram and Facebook will work
Zuckerberg therefore follows the path traced by Elon Musk for Twitter. The blue check for these social networks represents the first step of a paradigm shift in the business model of the platforms. From a free-for-all model, where the real driving force of the business was user profiling and the use of data to allow companies to advertise, to a different model, made up of services and subscriptions.
The analysis
A new wave of startups is springing up from Big Tech layoffs
by Archangel Rociola
It is no coincidence that everything has happened in recent months. 2022 was the annus horribilis for social platforms that saw their turnover slow down due to lower income from advertisers, selling on average 40% of their capitalization to the Nasdaq. Inflation and uncertainties in the economic situation have triggered a reversal of direction in the seemingly unstoppable growth of recent years.
Costs. The unknowns of a sudden turnaround
After thousands of layoffs to reduce costs, subscriptions are the first industrial response. Meta will start in Australia and New Zealand: 11.22 euros for users who subscribe to the service via the web; 14.22 euros for those who will do it via app. Price similar to that decided by Twitter. The subscription, both on Instagram and Facebook and on Twitter, will be optional. At first, it will mainly affect those who base a part of their business on sponsorships made on social networks or on content published online. But it is clear that this is an epochal change.
I study
Mediobanca records first collapse of software giants. 2022 data
by Archangel Rociola
Meta Verified (this is the name of the new function) and Twitter Blue represent what for many social network experts is the new skin of the virtual public space.
It is a response to the progressive increase in the number of users net of a worrying reduction in revenues. Zuckerberg had already announced the launch of new features that can make content creators even “more productive and creative”. The Verified package is a first step. Other social networks have already started this process, such as Snapchat and the Telegram messaging app. The trajectory is traced. It will take time to understand if it is the right one to fix the accounts.
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