New Meta tools to let Instagram creators accept NFT payments

Meta, Mark Zuckerberg’s umbrella corporation hosting the biggest social media websites of the world, has decided to allow content creators on Instagram to accept payments via non-fungible tokens. Meta is introducing a host of new features to Instagram to make it easier for content creators to monetise the platform. The most significant way in which this will happen is the adoption of NFTs directly on the platform. 

A Meta release on November 2 stated creators will “soon be able to make their own digital collectibles on Instagram and sell them to fans, both on and off Instagram.” The company further said content creators will have an end-to-end toolkit – from creation (starting on the Polygon blockchain) and showcasing, to selling. 

The new features will be tested with a small group of users in the United States first, after which they will be rolled out in the rest of the world. 

“We’re also expanding the types of digital collectibles that you can showcase on Instagram to include video and adding support for the Solana blockchain and Phantom wallet, in addition to blockchains and wallets that we already support,” Meta stated.

The release came after Meta announced in September that everyone on Facebook and Instagram in the US can now connect their wallets and share their digital collectibles. Users will be able to cross-post collectibles across Facebook and Instagram. Everyone in the 100 countries where digital collectibles are available on Instagram can use this feature.

Meta has been looking to provide content creators an opportunity to obtain a stable income from the platform at a time when the photo and video sharing app faces stiff competition from TikTok. In such an attempt, Meta announced that it is expanding access to subscriptions on Instagram to all eligible creators in the US to help them earn a more predictable income. 

Meta is also reported to be launching a professional mode for Facebook profiles, Reuters reported. This will allow creators to build a public presence while keeping their personal Facebook profile intact.