Meta to soon introduce paid features on Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp

Facebook parent company Meta Platforms Inc has said that it would soon add specialised features on Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp for users who are willing to pay for them.  According to a report in The Verge, Meta is setting up a new division called New Monetization Experiences, which will look into paid features on its popular social media platforms. The team will be led by Pratiti Raychoudhury, who was previously Meta’s head of research.  

The report added that the company in an internal memo sent to employees last week said that the company wants to build upon paid features on its popular social apps, which have billions of users. 

It is to be noted here that social media platforms, like Twitter, Snapchat and Telegram, have recently launched features like monthly subscriptions that offer exclusive features and other in-app bonuses for subscribers. Till now, Facebook didn’t charge its users for the existing paid features.  

Adding paid features 

Meta gets its revenue mostly from advertisements. Both Facebook and Instagram have a host of paid features that are used for paid events and various subscription products. According to the news report, the new set of paid features could help Meta find new sources of non-advertising revenue after its advertising business had taken a hit due to iPhone’s privacy clauses. Apple had introduced the App Tracking Transparency features for iOS devices and updated its privacy policy, following which Facebook could not track users. The move was crucial for Facebook as it had cost it $12.8 billion in 2022, according to a report in Forbes. 

In an interview with The Verge, Meta’s Vice President John Hegeman said Meta would like to have paid features on its platforms as a more meaningful part of its business five years down the line. 

So far, Facebook has introduced certain rules for group administrators under which they can charge users to access exclusive content. WhatsApp charges certain businesses to send message to customers, whereas Instagram allows social media creators to charge subscription fee to access exclusive content on their page. 

The subscription game 

Meta isn’t alone which is experimenting with paid features and subscriptions. Earlier this year, TikTok started testing paid users for creators. Twitter introduced paid Super Follows, and Discord earns a major part of its revenue from its Nitro subscription. In 2022, Telegram and Snapchat too added paid tiers that unlock additional features.  

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