Twitter was the first, and now the Facebook group Meta is jumping on the bandwagon: Everyone should be able to get a verified account – for a monthly fee.
The Facebook group Meta is experimenting with a subscription business model after the decline in advertising revenue. The idea is that for a monthly fee, Facebook and Instagram users can get verified accounts with confirmation by presenting passport documents. In addition to the usual tick of a verified account, the service should also include direct access to customer support and protection against copycat profiles.
cost point for users
The subscription will first be introduced in Australia and New Zealand, founder and boss Mark Zuckerberg wrote on Facebook on Sunday. Other countries are said to follow “soon”. A start in the important US market can be expected in the coming months, a Meta spokesman told the Wall Street Journal. The price is said to be $11.99 if you book the subscription online. For purchases on iPhones, it should be $14.99. Apple initially charges a fee of 30 percent for subscriptions made on the iPhone. After the first year, it drops to 15 percent.
So far, celebrities, politicians or companies as well as accounts with many subscribers have been assigned the verification tick.
New source of income
Meta’s revenue fell four percent last quarter. In addition to the general slowdown in the online advertising market, Facebook and Instagram continue to struggle with Apple’s privacy protections on the iPhone. App developers must ask users for explicit permission if they want to track their behavior across different applications and services in order to personalize advertising. With many refusing to do so, online advertising models went haywire.
Twitter is also hoping for more subscription revenue under new owner Elon Musk. In addition to the tick symbol in the profile, which was previously only available with personal verification for selected accounts, paying users are currently given the opportunity to publish longer videos. Another benefit announced for the future is that tweets from subscribers will be placed more prominently. In addition, they should only see half as much advertising. The Twitter Blue subscription costs eight euros in Europe for a monthly subscription. If you get it for a year, 84 euros will be due.
Snapchat has a $3.99 per month subscription product that gives access to additional features like personalized notification tones or picture backgrounds. More than two million users recently signed up for such a subscription called Snapchat, it said when the latest quarterly figures were presented.
