When and why did Meta start charging for subscriptions?

Users of the Meta platform will soon be able to follow in the footsteps of Twitter users by paying a price to enhance their postings and add a blue badge to their profiles as a sign of legitimacy.

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After nearly 20 years of defending an economic model built on free services and advertising, meta leader Mark Zuckerberg unveiled the subscription service for platforms Facebook and Instagram on Sunday.

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Those who sign up for Meta Verified will be able to confirm their identity on Facebook and Instagram by presenting legitimate identification and receiving a blue badge.

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Proactive monitoring will also help their account be better safeguarded against identity theft.

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These subscribers will have direct access to customer assistance teams in the event of issues.

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In addition, since their posts, images, and videos will be shown above comments and suggestions, they will have a larger profile than non-subscribers'.

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Also, Meta promises fresh creative features.

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This week, Meta Verified will debut in Australia and New Zealand before expanding to markets in the US and other nations.

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Those who sign up for the new service on the Internet will pay $11.99 per month, while those who utilize mobile apps will pay $14.99. The additional price is intended to cover commissions received from Apple for the iPhone or Google for Android-powered smartphones.

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It will be optional to subscribe. Moreover, subscriptions can only be made by persons who are at least 18 years old. Businesses are not now able to use the service, but Meta does not completely rule this out in the future.

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The core audience for the new service is content producers.

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According to Meta, the subscription notion came about as a result of requests from creators who are increasingly pursuing commercial endeavors.

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When traditional social networks experience a drop in both their user base and profitability, Meta is taking action.

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Since the California-based company's IPO in 2012, Meta experienced a drop in ad income in 2022.

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Budgets for online advertisers are being reduced by inflation, and users' attention is split among numerous apps. Before the intervention of regulatory authorities, mostly in Europe, and Apple to better safeguard people's internet privacy, the latter were unable to collect as much personal data as they could.

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As a result, Carolina Milanesi, an analyst at Creative Strategies, stated that the competition between platforms "is kind of turning into a struggle for attracting and retaining the creators, because, at the end of the day, it's the creators that have the material that keeps the eyeballs."

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Yet that is insufficient.

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Users of Snapchat, Reddit, and Discord are being asked to fork over a few bucks per month in exchange for extra features.

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Twitter, which Elon Musk purchased last year, launched an expensive account verification tool that costs $7 per month online and $11 per month for an iPhone in a haphazard manner.

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With longer tweets and less advertising, users may better promote their contributions thanks to Twitter Blue's coveted checkmark.

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Milanesi remarked that she believes Meta wants to diversify its sources of income.

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She told AFP that after Twitter introduced its subscription service, other social media organizations decided "okay, we might as well try.

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"Justifying that from a creator perspective I think is more of a marketing pitch than of true value to creators," she added.