Instagram recently allowed preview cards on Twitter and now the photo-sharing platform is geared up to launch its subscription model that allows content creators to earn revenues from the platform by getting users to pay a monthly fee.
The Facebook-owned platform, which launched stories and followed it up with reels when India banned TikTok last summer, would charge a monthly fee of Rs.89 from users to access content from specific creators. The Instagram Subscriptions program has been listed on App Store under the in-app purchases.
According to the list displayed under Instagram Subscriptions, users would end up paying Rs.89. The App Store listing had earlier only included badges as the in-app purchases which started at Rs.89 and went up to Rs.449. The new feature was first spotted by Techcrunch on the US app.
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Earlier in May, Instagram head Adam Mosseri had said that while Instagram had for long been a home for social influencers, it had started offering ways to earn money from the app only a year ago. He had confirmed that the photo-sharing platform was exploring subscriptions and a marketplace for NFTs (non-fungible tokens).
Of course, this isn't the first app to get into a subscription mode as Twitter already has its own subscriber-only version known as Twitter Blue. It offers users the ability to turn threads into a reader mode, undo tweets that have been set, organize one's favorite tweets into a collection, add up to six color themes and up to eight custom app icons.
The company had detailed these features further, showcasing their uses and how bookmarking tweets and undoing them could benefit users via a blog post.
And there's more from Instagram
In addition to the subscription option, Instagram is also believed to be working on a few additional features such as the Fan Club that could create value for the content creators on the platform. This could be the start of a monetization process where the original creators of content could generate revenue by offering merchandise and partake in affiliate marketing, generate ad revenues and use badges.
The latest subscription model could well be the first step towards this goal as it will help creators and influencers charge followers for exclusive content. It would also be a space to showcase the best work from content creators with a price tag for genuine followers to be part of that experience.
Given that the Meta-owned company is yet to official announce this new model, one can safely assume that only select users are getting the privilege as part of a beta test. However, the App Store listing does confirm Instagram's decision to launch the feature globally, though one is yet to find the change on the Play Store.
We will keep a close watch on the developments around this and update you with the latest.
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