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whatweshouldcallyou t1_j9cl9y9 wrote

Very few people would use Facebook as a paid service. Corporations and self-promoters would pay to have a little symbol beside their name and to have their posts algorithmically boosted. But I doubt Meta would ever try to make the general public pay, because it would accelerate the collapse of their user base.

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7wgh t1_j9d81xb wrote

Instagram has 1 billion monthly active users. Of which, 0.6% have more than 1 million followers (https://mention.com/en/reports/instagram/followers/)

That’s 6 million accounts right there, and they’re the ones who are more likely to pay for a verified badge + extra features.

For these big accounts, IG is a big part of their business/livelihood, and $12/mo is a rounding error to then. It’s simply a cost of business to these accounts. Just like paying for their domain/website.

Then remember this is just IG, I didn’t even add the users from FB.

So there’s likely tens of millions of people who are willing to pay for this subscription for a very long time.

They aren’t targeting every day users like me and you. It’s the same with Twitter. They’re targeting the power users with big audiences.

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docah t1_j9e6qx1 wrote

The platform is nothing without content, people with many subs are the ones making the platform profitable. So let's extort some money from them to "protect" their accounts... perfectly rational if you're convinced there's nowhere else to go.

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marcololol t1_j9fgkdc wrote

Somehow it seems that Instagram continues to grow its user base. They keep expanding into new markets. I hope their crash comes soon though because the services are pretty much garbage at this point.

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bitfriend6 t1_j9cx30r wrote

I wouldn't be so sure. Most people already have credit cards on file with Facebook or have a Facebook wallet (or equivalent). So long as Zuck only bills them under $1/mo, few will argue about a 79¢ charge on their monthly statement. This would closely mirror pre-internet newspaper subscriptions, which Facebook basically is for most of the population anyway.

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tasteless1 t1_j9d1tc5 wrote

I would bet my life savings that "most" people have never provided Facebook with a credit card number.

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ChalupaCabre t1_j9d6y8t wrote

Wtf would I or anyone need a credit card on file with FaceBook??

The only users I could see that being a thing is business accounts for advertising.

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sanetori t1_j9d95tk wrote

I think at least in america the facebook marketplace is quite popular place to sell your second hand stuff. And that probably needs your payment details

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ChalupaCabre t1_j9dbauq wrote

I’m in Canada and it’s free to list things on Facebook marketplace. In USA it costs money? Just use Craigslist, Kijiji or VarageSale.. they are all free.

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sanetori t1_j9dfzyy wrote

Oh, im in EU and dont use facebook in any form so was just guessing that to be the most likely link to normal peoples money use on the platform. And didnt mean it costing them to sell but maybe facebook could have handled the exchange of money, but I guess its easier to just use cash app or equivalent instead between the buyer and seller so idk.

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themagicbong t1_j9dqoqw wrote

Facebook also allows you to send money through messenger. I have no idea how often people use that, but it's a feature that exists. Come to think of it, I haven't seen it ask me if I meant to send money the last couple times I typed $ and then an amt, but I swear I've seen it do that a few times.

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