Meta will sell blue badges on Facebook and Instagram. using a new revenue stream that has had mixed results for smaller rival Twitter, Facebook-parent Meta has introduced a subscription service called Meta Verified that will allow users to add the coveted blue check mark to their Instagram and Facebook accounts for up to $15 a month by verifying their identity.
The subscription service costs $11.99 a month on the web or $14.99 on Apple’s iOS, with initial rollouts beginning this week in New Zealand and Australia. (The business did not specify a timeframe for when the service will be bought using its Android apps.) Users will be able to utilize their government-issued ID cards to prove their identity using Meta. As well as “greater exposure and reach,” “better protection against impersonation threats,” and “direct access to customer assistance,” the firm claimed that the subscription service would provide.
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According to Zuckerberg in a Facebook post, Meta Verified “is about increasing authenticity and security across our services,” He added that eventually additional countries would be added to the subscription service list without specifying a timeframe. We’ve enquired further about Meta, and when we hear back, we’ll update this report.
Following Apple’s decision to implement strict privacy changes on iOS that limit the social firm’s ability to track users’ internet activities, Meta’s revenues have suffered in recent years. For more than 15 years since its founding, Meta has chosen not to charge its customers for the majority of its services. According to the Zuckerberg-led corporation, which derives almost all of its revenue from advertising, Apple’s decision will cost the business more than $10 billion in lost advertising revenue by 2022.
“Long term, we want to build a subscription offering that’s valuable to everyone, including creators, businesses, and our community at large. As part of this vision, we are evolving the meaning of the verified badge so we can expand access to verification and more people can trust the accounts they interact with are authentic,” Meta wrote in a blog post.
The announcement on Sunday comes after social media platform Snap introduced its own subscription service last year, through which it has already turned over a million users into paying customers, and Elon Musk redesigned Twitter Blue, the company’s subscription service, to offer a variety of new features, including the blue check mark. In recent months, Twitter has expanded Twitter Blue to more than a dozen regions, including India and Indonesia. According to The Information, just roughly 180,000 accounts have joined Twitter Blue as of mid-January.
Musk, an outspoken opponent of Facebook services, hopes to make Twitter Blue a significant source of revenue for Twitter, which he paid $44 billion to acquire last year.
One of the most wanted features on social media platforms for a long time has been the blue checkmark. Before, only public individuals like politicians, actors, musicians, athletes, and journalists were allowed to use it.
Musk has slammed the notion, contending that the feature ought to be accessible to anyone. He has previously said that anybody who obtained the blue tick mark without purchasing a Twitter Blue subscription will eventually lose it.
“As we test and learn, there will be no changes to accounts on Instagram and Facebook that are already verified based on prior requirements, including authenticity and notability,” said Meta.
The negative market reaction to Meta’s ambitious metaverse ambition has left the company reeling even though its shares have recently increased. The business, which has slashed approximately 11,000 jobs over the last two months, has promised to spend less on its plans for the metaverse. Another round of layoffs is apparently planned very soon.
“The thing about religion is that it requires a leap of faith. Belief in something that you may not ever be able to conclusively prove. And there will be moments that will test that faith, moments that make you question everything you had previously accepted as fact. Dramatics aside, 2022 was a challenging year for believers in the House of Zuck with many pushed to the brink or throwing in the towel culminating in the capitulation we saw last quarter,” analysts at Bernstein wrote in a note this month.
“But it appears that Meta has found their own religion on efficiency/profitability and investors now find a leaner, sharper company before them.”
