Facebook, the social network that was supposed to stay free all the time and its stablemate Instagram was launched as a paid subscription service. The advertising-based business model has long dominated internet falters.
The CEO of Facebook-parent Meta, Mark Zuckerberg revealed the launch of Meta Verified, a service initiated at $11.99 a month to authenticate one’s account. A similar move was adopted by Elon Musk on Twitter.
Zuckerberg mentioned that this new feature is about to increase the authenticity and security across the services.
Meta Verified made the introduction in Australia and New Zealand this week before making the launch in the markets of the United States and other countries.
Subscribers will get a badge that is all-inclusive of accounts that have been verified with a government ID, extra protection against impersonation, direct access to customer support, and more visibility.
Facebook and Instagram said that the service has the primary objective to create content that is seamlessly looking to expand their availability on the platforms and could see adjustments after a test phase.
It is expected to have no modifications to accounts on Facebook and Instagram that are already verified. In addition to this only users who are over the age of 18 will be allowed to subscribe to the feature. The service is not yet available to business organizations.
It has not yet been revealed that Zuckerberg is planning to price Meta Verified in countries where users cannot afford to pay $12 a month, or in cash-based economies where they may have lesser ways to get the money to Meta.
Musk was initially forced to briefly suspend the effort before relaunching it to mute the reception in December.
‘Free’?
Facebook helped in establishing the dominant model of large platforms on the internet. The users can avail of maximum benefits from “free” services that collect their data to sell personalized ad space.
It is a kind of model that gives several earnings to the company, along with other advertising titans such as Google, tens of billions of dollars a year.
For so many years, the Facebook homepage proudly declared that the site was free and always will be to utilize.
In 2022, Meta faced an issue in which it was mentioned that the company for the first time since the California-based group went public in 2012 was declining.
The company analyzed that the number of Facebook’s daily users hit two billion. Here, the inflation eating into advertisers’ budgets and fierce competition from competitive apps.
The company has also suffered from regulatory modifications that were introduced by iPhone maker Apple. They restricted the ability of social networks to collect data and sell advertising.
Presently, Meta is under the stage of pressure for making a huge gamble on the metaverse.
‘Not a small fee’
People and organizations who made the investments last year punished Meta for reducing the amount of the company’s share price by an astonishing two-thirds over 12 months, but the stock has recovered some ground in 2023.
Meta also revealed that the company is planning to lay off 11,000 employees which is equivalent to 13% of its staff. It is considered the largest worker reduction in the company’s history.
It is expected that Meta Verified will be cheaper on the web than on mobile applications because of commissions collected by Apple on the iPhone or Google on smartphones.
Zuckerberg has also mentioned that it would cost around $11.99 on the web, and $14.99 per month on iOS or Android.
Carolina Milanesi, an analyst at Creative Strategies said that on a personal basis, she thinks it’s more about diversifying revenue.
She told to AFP that after the launch of Twitter’s subscription plan, other social media groups thought to try it as well.
She tries to justify it from a creator’s perspective.
Platforms are fighting for users and influencers are working forward to create the attention.
