Facebook parent Meta has launched a subscription service called Meta Verified that allows users to add the coveted blue tick to their Instagram and Facebook accounts for up to $15 a month by verifying their identity, its CEO Mark said Zuckerberg on Sunday , is launching a new revenue channel that has brought mixed results for its smaller competitor, Twitter.
The subscription service, which will debut in New Zealand and Australia starting this week, costs $11.99 a month on the web or $14.99 on Apple’s iOS. (The company hasn’t said when it plans to make the service available for purchase through its Android apps.) Meta will allow users to verify their identities using their government-issued IDs. The company said the subscription service will also offer “increased visibility and reach,” enhanced protection against impersonation attacks, and direct access to customer support.
Meta Verified “is about increasing the authenticity and security of our services,” Zuckerberg said in a Facebook post. The subscription service will be “expanded to more countries soon,” he said, without specifying the timeline. We asked Meta some additional questions and will update the story when we get feedback.
Meta’s revenue, which has opted not to charge its customers for most of its services in more than a decade and a half since its inception, has plummeted in recent years following Apple’s decision to introduce strict privacy changes to iOS that limit it , the social enterprise’s ability to track users’ Internet activity took a hit. The Zuckerberg-led company, which makes almost all of its money from advertising, said last year that Apple’s move would cost the company more than $10 billion in lost advertising revenue in 2022. Subscription services are becoming increasingly popular among social media companies.
Sunday’s announcement follows social platform Snap, which last year launched its own subscription service through which it has already converted over a million users into paying customers, and also Elon Musk, who overhauled Twitter’s subscription service, Twitter Blue to offer a range of additional features, including the blue tick. Twitter has expanded Twitter Blue to over a dozen markets in recent months, including India and Indonesia. As of mid-January, only about 180,000 accounts had signed up for Twitter Blue, according to The Information.
Musk, a vocal critic of Facebook services, is betting on making Twitter Blue a key revenue driver for Twitter, which he acquired for $44 billion last year.
The blue tick has long been one of the coveted features on social media platforms. Previously it was reserved for public figures such as lawmakers, actors, musicians, athletes and journalists.
Musk has criticized the idea, arguing that the feature should be open to everyone. Those who achieved the blue tick outside of the Twitter Blue subscription will eventually lose it, he has previously said. Zuckerberg didn’t say if Meta planned to rebuild its entire verified library, and didn’t mention if the subscription service will be expanded to businesses.
Meta, whose shares have rallied in recent weeks, is also suffering from a harsh market reaction to its grand Metaverse vision. The company, which has laid off about 11,000 employees in the past two months, has pledged to cut its spending on the Metaverse ambitions. It is reportedly planning another round of layoffs soon.
“The thing about religion is that it requires a leap of faith. Believe in something that you may never be able to definitively prove. And there will be moments that will test that belief, moments that will make you question everything you’ve accepted as fact. Drama aside, 2022 was a challenging year for believers in the House of Zuck, with many being marginalized or throwing in the towel, culminating in the capitulation we witnessed last quarter,” Bernstein analysts wrote in this month a note.
“But it appears that Meta has found its own religion of efficiency/profitability, and investors now find a leaner, smarter company ahead of them.”
I won’t be surprised if this spreads to other social media services.
Not only are they the product, they are now the customer they want to sell to.
The psychological value attached to verification only exists because you can’t buy it…
— Zach Bussey (@zachbussey) February 19, 2023
Source: techcrunch.com
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