Mark Zuckerberg announced a subscription service to Meta's social networks on Sunday. For about 12 dollars a month (11.25 euros at the current exchange rate) users receive some additional benefits and tools on their Facebook Instagram and Facebook Messenger accounts, although none on WhatsApp.
It is a service similar to the one that Elon Musk has redesigned on Twitter. Although Twitter Blue was launched before the tycoon bought the social network at the end of last year, Musk has given it a face lift, added new features and raised the price to $8 a month (about 7.50 euros to change). current), something more if it is contracted from the mobile due to the commissions charged by the app stores.
Behind these services is the same problem. Social networks depend on advertising, but global financial instability is starting to take its toll on this sector. Many companies are trying to cut operating costs now that it is much more difficult to finance due to high interest rates, and that means layoffs but also lower budgets for advertising campaigns.
Twitter, for example, has lost more than half of its advertisers since Musk's arrival. Part of Twitter's problem is Musk's own abrasive and polarizing attitude, which has scared off a number of companies, but even without that factor, he faces a much more complex market than he did just a year ago.
The only solution is to start replacing part of the business lost in advertising with subscription services. Convince the most active users to pay to use social networks that until now were free. It is not easy, but both companies are trying with various tools and advantages for those who decide to go home.
From the outset, the most attractive advantage of the new services is the verification of user accounts. Until now, Twitter and Meta only verified accounts that were at risk of being impersonated, such as those of politicians, journalists, influencers or artists.
This has given the verification symbol a certain aura of exclusivity and prestige. Now, for an amount per month, any user can display the same symbol. Both Twitter and Meta ask that a photo of an official identification (such as the DNI or passport in the case of Spain) be sent to activate the verification. Users also have to provide a valid phone number.
For that $12 a month you ask, Meta offers other tools and services. Add, for example, a better support and help service, with direct access to a person in case of any incident. It also monitors the account to prevent impersonation by other users.
The company also ensures that paying users will have more visibility on Instagram and Facebook. Your content will be featured first in search, comments, and recommendations. Finally, the service also includes exclusive stickers and labels to use in tools such as Instagram stories. Of course, it does not remove advertising.
At the moment the service is only active in the test phase in New Zealand. Facebook's advantage here is that it has a huge active user base (3.5 billion worldwide). With only a very small part signing up, you can already generate enough income to justify the existence of the subscription service.
In addition to verification, Twitter Blue also offers some additional benefits, such as Meta. Paying users can write much longer tweets, up to 4,000 characters, upload longer and higher quality videos, and gain access to special tools and features, such as the ability to edit tweets, view threads much more comfortably, or access to better tools for saving interesting tweets.
This week, Twitter has also limited the option of account protection through two-factor verification by SMS and only those who pay will be entitled to it. The rest will have to use authentication apps or security keys if they want to maintain two-factor authentication, a recommended option.
Twitter has also ensured that it will give priority to tweets from verified users in responses and searches and that users who pay for the service will see only half of the ads, but for now these functions are not active.
Twitter's subscription service is somewhat cheaper than Meta's, but it also starts from a very different situation. Although it is a network with enormous importance in certain sectors, such as the media, it has far fewer active users than Meta, which complicates Musk's equation.
Leaked data suggests that only about 300,000 people have signed up for the service in the first few months, far too few, at the moment, to make up for the loss of advertising revenue.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
