Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, on Sunday, unveiled a new paid membership service for Facebook and Instagram that offers customers a sacred blue check in exchange for a monthly charge.
On the web, Meta Verified will cost $11.99 a month, while on iOS, it will cost $14.99 per month. This week, it will first be available to users in Australia and New Zealand, before expanding to more countries.
Facebook Paid Subscription
The program follows Elon Musk’s contentious attempts to charge Twitter users for verification, which have received little traction and generated concerns that scammers would abuse the program to make themselves seem more credible to victims.
Users who sign up for Meta Verified will receive a verified badge for their Facebook and Instagram pages.
The service will be first accessible in Australia and New Zealand, a frequent testing ground for the business. It will demand users to authenticate their identification by uploading a government-issued ID, unlike Twitter’s service.
Subscribers will also receive additional security safeguards, including account monitoring to look out for impersonators and enhanced profile visibility in comments and search results. Those who pay will also have access to human customer assistance, which is something that Facebook users have often lamented the lack of.
Influencers who frequently deal with impersonators and utilize Facebook and Instagram to grow their online companies are likely to find this option to be the most appealing.
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What If You Don’t Pay?
The verified badge for well-known accounts has been present on social media platforms like Twitter for a while. Despite Zuckerberg’s denial, Musk, who last year acquired the competitor service, has stated that people who do not pay for verification will eventually lose it.
A step away from being nearly totally dependent on advertising is being made with the new service. Due to Apple’s anti-tracking technologies hurting its ability to target advertisements, Meta has recorded revenue decreases for three straight quarters.
Subscriptions, however, are not likely to be a significant new source of income. In the US and Canada, Meta made over $17 per month from the typical user last year, while preliminary data from Twitter indicates that less than 1% of users subscribe to its service.
Last year, Meta had a value reduction of 70%; but, thanks to results that were significantly better than anticipated, the company has been able to partially recoup some of those losses this year.
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