From Instagram to Twitter, social subscriptions obliterate regular users
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For some time now, it has become increasingly clear how the giants of social networks are doing making the offer of paid services a central element of the strategy for the future. In recent months, however, this change has accelerated significantly: first the launch of Twitter Blue by Elon Musk and now Meta’s decision, much more important from a numerical point of viewto follow the same steps for Facebook and Instagram.
The service, called Meta Verified and still in the experimental stage, it costs 12 dollars (or 15 if you pay via the iOS app) and allows, in addition to the now classic blue check, to have access to more effective customer service and better protection against theft of identity. In the case of TwitterBluehowever, among the services offered there is also the possibility of using two-factor authentication via SMS.
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Those just mentioned are basic services that should probably be offered to all users (above all considering the many complaints towards the lousy customer support of these companies). In reality, it is evident that what Twitter and Meta are selling has little to do with providing a better service: the strong point of this offer is the guarantee that the contents published by a paying user will be promoted by the algorithm and will therefore enjoy greater visibility.
It is a radical change with respect to the past, and above all with respect to the idea (so long cultivated) that social networks would democratize communicationgiving each of us a voice, becoming that public square that Musk himself cited when motivating his decision to buy Twitter.
When you decide to favor the visibility of those who pay, however, you radically move away from that (theoretical) digital agora model, going in the opposite direction. The goal of social media, as already noted, seems to no longer be the one to attract a mass of users eager to get in touch with friends, relatives, colleagues etc. As already signaled by the slogan by Meta Verifiedor “Grow your presence on Facebook and Meta”, these premium accounts are aimed primarily at influencers and creators, giving further strength to the transformation of social networks into an increasingly traditional entertainment tool, in which a large mass of viewers limit themselves to observe i content created by professionals or would-be.
A bit like what happened in the past to companies, politicians and newspapers, Facebook and Instagram they will now ask creators to pay to have access to that visibility they could previously enjoy for free. However, there is another important aspect: if this bet by social networks is successful, what will happen to all the normal subscribers? They will become B-grade users, resigned to not posting more content that would end up in oblivion? We will really be forced to witness the disappearance of social networks (also) as a means of word of mouth, of sharing, of exchange of views? Will we be inundated, willy-nilly, with videos from professional accounts that we might not even be interested in?
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Whether these trials will be successful remains to be seen, as attempts to get users to pay for something that has always been free have historically been unsuccessful. From this point of view, the first signs are not encouraging: Twitter Blue would have reached 180,000 subscribers in 3 months, numbers that are too small to even marginally shift the balance sheets of a company that generates 5 billion in turnover a year. The matter is obviously even more complex for Meta, a giant with 116 billion in turnover and 23 billion in earnings, but which he has to contend with Apple’s privacy restrictionswhich have severely affected its main source of income.
In an era in which the profession of creator is becoming ever more coveted, and in which visibility on social networks is something that in certain sectors one cannot do without, however it cannot be excluded that the change these tools you also don’t pass by their transformation into some sort of huge promotional space for aspiring creators.
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