Meta Platforms is the latest social media company to ask users to pay for account verification, joining attempts by competitors including Twitterto branch out away from ad revenue.
The new Meta Verified service for Facebook and Instagram will allow users to join celebrities and other public figures to have, from US$11.99 per monththe blue tick that confirms your identity, the company said in a statement.
While CEO Twitter, Elon Musk, called his rival’s move “inevitable” in a tweet, the impact on revenue is likely to be marginal for now. The Meta Verified feature might add between US$2 billion and US$3 billion to Meta’s annual sales, Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Mandeep Singh wrote in a note. The company’s revenue last year was regarding $117 billion.
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However, Singh said the move might be more beneficial in helping the company retain “creators” whoThey can pay for verification to protect their content and help your posts stand out. Higher visibility will mean “prominence in some areas of the platform, such as search, comments and recommendations,” the company said.
As of mid-January, less than 0.2% of Twitter’s monthly active users in the US had agreed to pay for subscriptions, including Twitter Blue, the site reported. The Information earlier this month, citing a document he had access to. Twitter reintroduced the service in December following pulling back from the launch of its premium offering for several weeks. During its first deployment, some customers used the service to impersonate known accounts, including Musk’s.
Meta will offer the subscriptions this week to users of Australia and New Zealand, and will include a verification process that requires a government-issued ID. In addition to a verification badge, the subscription includes “proactive account protection, access to account support, and increased visibility and reach,” a Meta spokesperson said in an email.
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