Meta working on more paid Instagram and Facebook features, report says

Moves comes after report of first-ever drop in company’s revenue

Facebook parent company Meta is reportedly building a new team to develop “possible paid features” across its platforms.

The new division would be the first such team within Meta to build paid features for Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp as well, The Verge reported, citing an internal company memo.

This latest move by Meta comes following the first-ever drop in revenue reported by the company in July, along with a gloomy forecast for its third quarter.

It is also in line with an announcement made by company chief Mark Zuckerberg in June that paid features are being tested for a rollout across platforms.

“Rolling out more ways for creators to make money on Facebook and Instagram -- and sharing updates that will help creators build for the metaverse,” Mr Zuckerberg had said.

“We’re heading towards a future where more people can do creative work they enjoy, and I want platforms like ours to play a role in making that happen,” he shared on Facebook.

The Meta chief had shared details on some of the ideas under work, including plans to monetising Instagram Reels.

“We’re opening up the Reels Play Bonus program to more creators on Facebook soon and letting creators cross-post their Instagram Reels to Facebook and monetize them there too,” Mr Zuckerberg said.

The social media giant has been facing consistent pressure from short video app TikTok and is adjusting its ads business in response to privacy controls introduced by Apple last year.

Meta’s new group, named New Monetization Experiences, will reportedly be led by Pratiti Raychoudhury, the company’s previous head of research.

The Facebook parent company is not alone in developing paid features.

Twitter has “Super Follows” that will allow people to lock their posts behind a paywall to be accessible only to paying followers.

TikTok has also begun testing its paid Live Subscription feature for creators, the short video company announced in May.

Snapchat also has a premium version of its app with special features called Snapchat Plus.