Elon Musk said it was “inevitable” that Mark Zuckerberg’s meta would go the way of Twitter. Associated Press
-
Elon Musk said it was “inevitable” that Meta would go Twitter’s route to charging for verified statuses.
-
Meta announced its paid subscription program for Facebook and Instagram on Sunday.
-
The subscription starts at $11.99 per month when purchased through a web browser, according to CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
Elon Musk said it was “inevitable” that just hours after announcing new subscription service “Meta Verified,” Meta would go the way of Twitter and start charging for verified status.
Musk — who began implementing monetization programs at Twitter since taking office in October 2022 — responded a tweet So said Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who copied Twitter by charging user verification status.
Meta’s verified paid subscription program for Facebook and Instagram starts at $11.99 per month when purchased through a web browser, Zuckerberg said Sunday. “This new feature is all about increasing the authenticity and security of our services,” he said, adding that subscribers get additional protections against identity theft and direct access to customer service.
Meta will begin rolling out the service in Australia and New Zealand earlier this week.
Matt Navarra, a social media consultant, told Insider’s Joyti Mann on Sunday that it made sense for Meta to roll out its verification program. “The market has already been tested by competitors, the benefits are mostly already there and don’t require much development time to bring this new product together, and it’s generating a new revenue stream at a time when most companies are facing challenging economic headwinds. ‘ said Navarre.
Shares of Meta closed up 0.3% at $172.88 on Friday. They’re up 44% so far this year.
Challenging economic headwinds ahead
The tech sector is facing tough times and has seen over 108,000 layoffs at 380 tech companies so far in 2023, according to the Layoffs.ai tracker.
And Meta wasn’t immune to such challenges either – especially since Zuckerberg’s relentless pursuit of the Metaverse cost the company $13.7 billion in 2022. To cut costs, Meta laid off 11,000 employees in November and promised that 2023 will be a “year” of efficiency.”
No wonder, then, that companies are also looking for ways to generate more revenue streams.
Musk first launched Twitter Blue in November 2022 to generate revenue for the social media platform. He also introduced sweeping changes to cut costs, including mass layoffs and cuts in benefits like free lunches. Musk said in November 2022 that Twitter was losing $4 million a day.
The program — which costs $8 a month in the US, or $84 a year if purchased through a web browser, and more if purchased through the Apple and Android app stores — is now Available in 15 countries including the US, UK, India, and Japan.
But it wasn’t all smooth sailing.
The current version of the Twitter Blue verification program was reinstated in December after being temporarily suspended in November when some users paid to impersonate corporate and political accounts. Twitter now asks all Blue subscribers to verify their phone numbers.
Read the original article on Business Insider
Don’t miss interesting posts on Famousbio
