Instagram is currently testing a new feature called Subscriptions. With this new feature, influencers and creators on Instagram can earn additional income from their followers.
The trial is still in its early stages and limited to the United States. Instagram is inviting 10 creators to participate in the trial, including basketball athlete Sedona Prince, Olympic athlete Jordan Chiles and astrologer Aliza Kelly.
"I'm excited to continue building tools for creators to make a living doing creative work and share these tools with more creators in the near future," Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a Facebook post. /2022).
With the Subscription feature, influencers and creators can get money from the subscription fees paid by their followers. Instead, followers who are already subscribers can get exclusive content from their favorite creators.
Subscription fees range from USD 0.99 to USD 99.99 per month, and creators can choose their own subscription fee. Instagram Co-head of Product Ashley Yuki said Instagram won't take a cut from creator revenue until 2023.
Head of Instagram Adam Mosseri explained that the Subscription feature is divided into three, namely Stories, Lives, and Badges. Creators can share exclusive Stories and Lives for their subscribers and that content can later be saved in special highlights for subscribers marked with a purple circle.
Just like Twitch and YouTube, subscribers will also get a special purple badge that will be displayed next to their username. Creators can see this badge in the comments or DMs so they can pay more attention to their subscribers.
Subscriptions
Subscriptions allow creators to monetize and become closer to their followers through exclusive experiences:
- Subscriber Lives
- Subscriber Stories
- Subscriber Badges
We hope to add more creators to this test in the coming months. More to come. pic.twitter.com/SbFhN2QWMX
— Adam Mosseri (@mosseri) January 19, 2022
Mosseri said Subscriptions could be a way for influencers and creators to get a more stable income. Mosseri has previously said that Instagram will focus on teen users and creators this year, and Subscriptions is one of the features targeting creators.
By testing the Subscriptions feature, Instagram is following in the footsteps of other social media that have launched a subscription feature. In 2021, Twitter introduced the Super Follows feature which offers a subscription system similar to that of Instagram.
