Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri has announced three new monetization features for creators using the platform to compete with sites like OnlyFans and Patreon that offer users a reliable revenue stream.
In an Instagram post announcing the new features on Wednesday, Mosseri said, “Creators are doing something to make a living, and it’s important to have a predictable income. Subscriptions are one of the best ways to generate a predictable income.”
According to the new feature, which is currently only available to a small pre-selected group of creators, followers who ‘subscribe’ to the user will have access to exclusive live streams and story shares. Content producers, on the other hand, will recognize their subscribers by the purple badges next to their usernames.
The new features were also announced by Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Instagram owner Meta.
‘Subscribers can be moved to other applications’
Mosseri said the subscription-based model could eventually expand beyond Instagram, with creators taking their subscriber lists and moving them from Instagram to other apps and websites created by other companies. This ‘move’ means that subscribers’ user data changes:
“Creators should own their relationship with subscribers.”
A Meta spokesperson, who warned users against resharing subscriber content via screen recordings or screenshots, made it clear that the company would also own the relationship with creators and urged creators to report any unauthorized reuse of paid content.
