To face the stiff competition, the platform is about to take a new step. In fact, Instagram will give influencers the possibility of offering paid subscriptions to their fans, a new tool for the social network that needs to attract and retain content creators so as not to lose ground to YouTube and TikTok. The creators “need predictable income”, explained this Wednesday, January 19, in a video Adam Mosseri, the head of the platform that belongs to Meta (Facebook).

“And subscriptions are one of the best ways to have predictable income, which doesn’t depend on audience, which inevitably varies from publication to publication,” he continued. To start, Instagram will test this approach with a handful of influencers in the United States. Your paying subscribers will have access to exclusive “stories” and “lives” and will be distinguished from other fans by a purple symbol next to their name, so creators can easily identify them in the comments. . or private messages.

Donations, a common medium on platforms

Initially free social networks, given that their economic model is based on advertising revenue, have deployed different compensation techniques in recent years. They allow the professionals of the platform to diversify their sources of income, beyond the percentage of advertising, derivative products, contracts with brands and the sale of educational or sports programs. On TikTok, for example, viewers can donate. On Twitch (video game platform) too, and they can also subscribe to their favorite players. Twitter has followed suit with initiatives such as paid subscriptions to certain accounts or the “Tip Jar” or “tip box”.

“We want to help creators turn their audience into fans and their fans into revenue,” Esther Crawford, director of monetization products at Twitter, summed up last September. “We want Twitter to be the best place for influencers to have conversations with their audience.” Adam Mosseri also clarified that his teams are looking for ways for creators “to take their subscribers to other applications published by other companies.”

European and American competition authorities regularly use platforms to facilitate data portability, that is, the possibility for users to take their contacts to another application if they wish. Meta, like other tech giants, is facing several investigations and complaints for abuse of dominant position.