Submitted by rejs7 t3_117km2v in technology
Comments
7wgh t1_j9d81xb wrote
Instagram has 1 billion monthly active users. Of which, 0.6% have more than 1 million followers (https://mention.com/en/reports/instagram/followers/)
That’s 6 million accounts right there, and they’re the ones who are more likely to pay for a verified badge + extra features.
For these big accounts, IG is a big part of their business/livelihood, and $12/mo is a rounding error to then. It’s simply a cost of business to these accounts. Just like paying for their domain/website.
Then remember this is just IG, I didn’t even add the users from FB.
So there’s likely tens of millions of people who are willing to pay for this subscription for a very long time.
They aren’t targeting every day users like me and you. It’s the same with Twitter. They’re targeting the power users with big audiences.
docah t1_j9e6qx1 wrote
The platform is nothing without content, people with many subs are the ones making the platform profitable. So let's extort some money from them to "protect" their accounts... perfectly rational if you're convinced there's nowhere else to go.
[deleted] t1_j9exvtq wrote
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marcololol t1_j9fgkdc wrote
Somehow it seems that Instagram continues to grow its user base. They keep expanding into new markets. I hope their crash comes soon though because the services are pretty much garbage at this point.
bitfriend6 t1_j9cx30r wrote
I wouldn't be so sure. Most people already have credit cards on file with Facebook or have a Facebook wallet (or equivalent). So long as Zuck only bills them under $1/mo, few will argue about a 79¢ charge on their monthly statement. This would closely mirror pre-internet newspaper subscriptions, which Facebook basically is for most of the population anyway.
tasteless1 t1_j9d1tc5 wrote
I would bet my life savings that "most" people have never provided Facebook with a credit card number.
ChalupaCabre t1_j9d6y8t wrote
Wtf would I or anyone need a credit card on file with FaceBook??
The only users I could see that being a thing is business accounts for advertising.
sanetori t1_j9d95tk wrote
I think at least in america the facebook marketplace is quite popular place to sell your second hand stuff. And that probably needs your payment details
ChalupaCabre t1_j9dbauq wrote
I’m in Canada and it’s free to list things on Facebook marketplace. In USA it costs money? Just use Craigslist, Kijiji or VarageSale.. they are all free.
trollofzog t1_j9f50gp wrote
No, it’s free in the US too
sanetori t1_j9dfzyy wrote
Oh, im in EU and dont use facebook in any form so was just guessing that to be the most likely link to normal peoples money use on the platform. And didnt mean it costing them to sell but maybe facebook could have handled the exchange of money, but I guess its easier to just use cash app or equivalent instead between the buyer and seller so idk.
themagicbong t1_j9dqoqw wrote
Facebook also allows you to send money through messenger. I have no idea how often people use that, but it's a feature that exists. Come to think of it, I haven't seen it ask me if I meant to send money the last couple times I typed $ and then an amt, but I swear I've seen it do that a few times.
BroForceOne t1_j9ci866 wrote
Free-access orthodoxy will continue as startups come to disrupt the big players who must produce infinite growth until they too suffer the same fate of shareholder demands and investor-backed startups who replace them. The cycle of capitalism in big tech continues.
GhostofDownvotes t1_j9dyt90 wrote
There are no actual demands for infinite growth. I don’t know why Reddit made this its new strawman that it can’t stop parroting.
If FB shares become priced at the same PE ratio as your local utilities company, nobody will expect the company to grow. The only “issue”, if you can even call it that, is that they’re significantly more expensive because growth is still expected.
When FB’s growth expectations drop to zero, nobody will pay the current share price or expect any growth. If this sounds too fanciful for you, your boring-ass local utilities company was hot shit too at one point, assuming it is old enough.
tentenfive t1_j9c6v83 wrote
I dont think facebook today is free. You do pay by providing facebook with your personal information. Allot of things on the internet are like this. ie not free. I can say though that once facebook starts trying to ask for money, I, like allot of facebook users will drop fb quickly.
anti-torque t1_j9c9yh1 wrote
was going to say... now people will have to pay to provide facebook with their personal data?
typesett t1_j9criza wrote
Sounds like it is a partnership
if you use their services then you are willingly participating
and I’m not gonna do the whole argument about social media value but I can confidently say millions have found massive profound joy from it but yes extreme bullshit happens there too
Maverick_382023 t1_j9cgxii wrote
Yeah the minute Facebook asks me to pay I am out.
Narwahl_Whisperer t1_j9d37l4 wrote
Shit, I'm barely in anyway. I haven't been on board with this shit since the days when myspace was the thing.
Good_ApoIIo t1_j9drvij wrote
No because they’re never giving up their private data and ad revenue. This is just triple dipping on consumers.
bitfriend6 t1_j9cwv0c wrote
Yes and this is good for the world. By moving back to a paid subscriber model, websites and forums will closely resemble the magazines they were generated from. This will give smaller ones the ability to exist independent of Facebook, as they can just charge a lower price than Facebook and finance content moderation/curation.
DutchieTalking t1_j9cwy8c wrote
Facebook and the like can attempt such things because they have an essential monopoly. They've fully wormed their way into everything so that many people feel like it's an essential service.
Most services have to offer far better to get payment. And if payment is the only way to access the service, it's gonna be niche.
Too much pushing of payment on services like Facebook will disrupt it and just make it easier for a competitor to step in and take over.
Ok_Ninja_1602 t1_j9d94h2 wrote
It wasn't free to begin with, these platforms are not worth it to the common person.
ants_in_my_ass t1_j9dozjk wrote
pay me half as much as you pay these social media execs and i guarantee you i can run things way better
tralfamadoran777 t1_j9dqk2x wrote
Can we have an open source gov't controlled social space?
Government agencies and representatives shouldn't be favoring private platforms, anyway, should they?
Then any data collected would be publicly available.
jonnyclueless t1_j9dynwa wrote
More like it signals the end of their products.
Potential-Panda-2814 t1_j9elayx wrote
Keep dreaming
chubba5000 t1_j9fho0r wrote
You know what sucks about this? They’re going to end the “free” but keep the fucking ads….
IH4v3Nothing2Say t1_j9dvvsh wrote
I’m about to unsub if I keep seeing posts like this.
whiteycnbr t1_j9e6r7u wrote
They should be paying us to use Facebook. The day they ask for a fee is the day I deactivate
ElectionFraudSucks t1_j9e4384 wrote
Hopefully it signals the end of common carrier protections for big tech
whatweshouldcallyou t1_j9cl9y9 wrote
Very few people would use Facebook as a paid service. Corporations and self-promoters would pay to have a little symbol beside their name and to have their posts algorithmically boosted. But I doubt Meta would ever try to make the general public pay, because it would accelerate the collapse of their user base.