Instagram Will Launch Subscription Feature, Users Are More Limited Access To Content

Instagram earlier this year expressed interest in the subscription service option on its social media. (photo: doc.unsplash)

JAKARTA - Instagram earlier this year expressed interest in the subscription service option on its social media. As applied to Twitter today.

First spotted by app store analysts Sensor Tower and AppTopia, Facebook has added a new Instagram subscription option under in-app purchases. This price ranges from 1 US dollar to 5 US dollars.

However, there is no clarity on what Instagram subscriptions will offer. Chances are, it will pay content creators directly for exclusive content every month.

Analysts suspect this subscription feature will involve popular content creators offering exclusive Stories. Later these Stories can only be seen by users who subscribe to the creator's content.

Instagram may be aiming instead of content creators showing off their content elsewhere, the company will allow content creators to persist on its social media, by tagging certain Stories for subscribers only and then cutting subscription fees.

“We are exploring (subscriptions). We're exploring what we can do with branded content, what we can do in stores, what we can do with tipping. We don't have digital stuff outside of badges, but I think subscriptions can be a natural thing to experiment with too," said Adam Mosseri some time ago as quoted by TechCrunch, Wednesday, November 10.

Sensor Tower confirmed the first "Instagram Subscriptions" in-app purchases were added to the US App Store listings on November 1 for $4.99. An in-app purchase of $0.99 was added a few days later, on November 3.

Usually, Instagram tests new features with some content creators before they are publicly available. So it's likely that users in the US will try it first.

Usually, social media is completely free and is mostly funded by advertising, but in recent years the trend of monetization has come across all social media. Where like TikTok, Instagram, Facebook allows users to buy virtual goods in the form of badges and stickers.

However, it was Twitter that took the first steps towards a subscription service. The Twitter Blue service, already operating in Australia, Canada, the US, and New Zealand, allows customers who pay a $3 fee to Twitter to get enhanced features including an undo tweet button, and ad-free access. The Super Follow option the company is adding will be the most similar to what Instagram seems to be planning.