Does a blue tick not mean anything anymore? Following Twitter’s tried and (often poorly) tested paid verification plan, in which users pay a set amount each month for a blue verification tick next to their profile, Meta announces it will be trialling the same on Instagram and Facebook.
The following quote comes from Meta’s own newsletter:
“To help up-and-coming creators grow their presence and build community faster, we’ll begin testing a new offering called Meta Verified, a subscription bundle on Instagram and Facebook that includes a verified badge, which authenticates your account with government ID, proactive account protection, access to account support, and increased visibility and reach. We’re starting with a gradual test in Australia and New Zealand later this week to learn what’s most valuable, and we hope to bring Meta Verified to the rest of the world soon.”
What exactly is the motivation behind this decision? Well, according to Meta, two of its most requested features are better access to verification and account support as creators continue to desire visibility.
The new program will cater to all of these, and will initially be priced at $11.99 per month on the web, or $14.99 p/m on iOS and Android, with the latter covering the respective App Store fees.
The main concern, one that Meta has yet failed to address, is that the ability to purchase a blue tick damages its exclusive status. The value of the verification badge is that it’s only allocated to profiles that are deemed noteworthy, and as soon as anybody can buy one, that key value is immediately diminished. Twitter now – a heap of random accounts now have a paid verification badge, which only makes them look desperate for recognition, as opposed to being somebody of note that may have a more insightful or knowledgeable opinion.
On the other hand, many have argued that the blue tick is almost too exclusive and impossible to obtain without paying an obscene amount of money via PR.
Nevertheless, from Meta’s perspective, when you consider that Twitter Blue has around 300,000 subscribers, I guess that’s a handy extra chunk of cash that Meta could use and in this economy the motivation is clear.
