Back in January, we reported that Meta was working on a major shift to paid features for Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp. The plan involved offering extra perks like anonymous story viewing and follower tracking on Instagram, advanced group moderation on Facebook, and custom business tools on WhatsApp.
Now, Meta has confirmed that it has started a subscription service called Instagram Plus in a few countries. The new service offers users "advanced controls" and "exclusive features" for a monthly fee. For instance, in Mexico, the subscription costs MX$39.00 (~ $2.20 USD) per month.
Based on publicly available screenshots, the countries where Instagram is running this test include Mexico, Japan, and the Philippines. When you pay for Plus, you get things like the ability to create multiple story audiences, which lets you segment your followers beyond the single "Close Friends" list. Subscribers also receive story rewatch insights, a feature that shows who has viewed your story more than once.
Other perks include the ability to search your story viewer list for specific people instead of scrolling endlessly. You can also preview stories before they go live, extend your story"s expiry from 24 to 48 hours, and "spotlight" one of your stories to push it to the front of your followers" feeds. Finally, the subscription lets you send animated "super hearts" to other people"s stories.
While there are no official reasons for why Meta is pushing so hard on subscriptions, one can take a guess at the financial pressures. Apple"s App Tracking Transparency (ATT) framework cost Meta an estimated $10 billion in revenue in its first year alone by limiting its ability to track users for ads.
Let"s also not forget that advertising revenue is volatile and can dip during economic downturns. Recurring payments from power users create a predictable revenue stream, the kind that Wall Street investors love. A user becomes a guaranteed $120 a year if, for example, a subscription costs $9.99 per month.
Speaking of social media subscriptions, Snapchat recently launched "Creator Subscriptions". This feature allows individual creators to offer paid fan clubs to their followers, complete with exclusive content, priority replies in their inbox, and an ad-free viewing experience for that creator"s stories.
Creators get to keep about 60% of the revenue from these subscriptions. The remaining 40% covers the standard 30% "app store tax" from Apple and Google, as well as Snap"s platform maintenance costs.