Meta’s Metaverse costs just keep on racking up, forcing it to consider new types of income, with CEO Mark Zuckerberg today announcing that the company’s launching a test of a paid verification program. As Meta explains:

“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.”

Verifying 

Meta says that two of its most requested features are better access to verification and account support, while creators are constantly on the lookout for ways to increase their visibility. The new program will cater to all of these, and will initially be priced at $11.99 a month on the web, and $14.99 on both the iOS and Android app stores.

It seems terribly flawed. Much like Twitter’s own convoluted verification program, the value of verification badges is that they’re only allocated to profiles that are deemed noteworthy, and as soon as anyone can afford one, said key value is immediately diminished.

Then again, many people have criticized the way verification badges have been allocated in the past. There’s also an argument to be made that confusion and misinterpretation around what verification actually means has led to a lot of random accounts being verified anyway. With Meta’s development costs still rising and its ad business still a bit stunted by Apple’s ATT update, Meta really has to broaden its horizons.

Considering the success of other subscription offers, such as Snapchat’s, Meta does stand to gain a relatively significant amount of extra cash should its efforts pay off. This aligns with another Meta verified package:

“We’ll offer exclusive stickers on Facebook and Instagram Stories and Facebook Reels, and 100 free stars a month on Facebook so you can show your support for other creators.”

It’s a bit difficult to imagine loads of people who are willing to dish out $144 a year for a verification badge, and history has shown us that the take-up rates of such offers will be low, with likely fewer than 1% of Meta’s user based even considering it.

The Wrap

For Meta, that might be okay, since even if just a fraction of its users ends up taking the bait, that small extra cash would still be worth the added effort. Much like Twitter Blue, it does seem to devalue the thing it’s trying to sell. While it may seem flawed, the extra reach and direct account support should be enough to win over a few thousand creators. However, there’s also a limit – so, even if you can pay, it’s still not a 100% guarantee, It might be best to start deciding as early as now, whether or not you want to get verified.

Sources

http://bit.ly/3SgewDv