Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp To Test Premium Subscriptions (techcrunch.com) 38
An anonymous reader shares a report: Meta plans to test new subscriptions that give people access to exclusive features on its apps, the company told TechCrunch on Monday. The tech giant said the new subscriptions will unlock more productivity and creativity, along with expanded AI capabilities.
In the coming months, Meta said it will offer a premium experience on Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp that gives users access to special features and more control over how they share and connect, while keeping the core experiences free. Meta doesn't appear to be locked into one strategy, noting that it will test a variety of subscription features and bundles, and that each app subscription will have a distinct set of exclusive features.
In the coming months, Meta said it will offer a premium experience on Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp that gives users access to special features and more control over how they share and connect, while keeping the core experiences free. Meta doesn't appear to be locked into one strategy, noting that it will test a variety of subscription features and bundles, and that each app subscription will have a distinct set of exclusive features.
will it allow me to (Score:2)
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> will it allow me to see more actual content vs ads than i do currently?
It might. Some people think the future of the web is agents browsing for you. If you could ask your agent to scrape FB for posts you care about and present them in a format you prescribe then FB's ads would be useless. I wonder if this move is partly to mitigate that.
Meh (Score:3)
Too Late (Score:3)
Before the whole business model was marketing, profiling and addiction was the time to do subscriptions to prevent enshitification. There is no going back; it's so toxic that I doubt it can be composted and produce anything fruitful.
They will take your money, remove the absolute minimum annoyances while promoting some extras to "add value" but retain as much shit as possible; this is about making more money not replacing evil income streams. That is why there is no chance of going back while it's a publicl
Re:Too Late (Score:5, Insightful)
One of the reasons I still use Slashdot decades after finding it is the lack of infinite scrolling, it is not an attention whore. I can spend a few minutes here several times a day without felling like I have wasted a whole lot of my day for nothing.
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For a while I would use an adblocker on Facebook and I actually would reach the end. However, I think this was because the adblocker would break the page after a while. It was nice.
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You're right, ads are so ingrained into Facebook that I don't think they can be extricated from the product. People are signing up for the privilege to view ads and have their responses tracked (whether they realize it or not). Facebook is an advertising machine and you are the product. If they can trick someone into paying money for it, even better, but it won't materially change the system except improve the quality of ads by verifying your identity.
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t it won't materially change the system except improve the quality of ads by verifying your identity.
I don't think it will affect the QUALITY of the ads themselves. It just makes the ad space easier to sell for Facebook and cheaper for marketing people to target the group that they want to part with their money.
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Hey if I'm paying for Facebook Premium, I expect premium ads!
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We will milk you for ad data (Score:5, Insightful)
And you will pay for it. Is the tech industry anything other than a massive rent extraction machine?
Re:We will milk you for ad data (Score:4, Funny)
marking the value (Score:1)
Marking the value of these companies to market, is that it? For decades the idea for all of these 'businesses' was to collect as many free users as possible (which is why they could get hundreds of thousands if not millions of subscribers per day) and then get paid by the 'investors' (gamblers) for this. Their best business propositions were to sell advertisements and to sell user data. By introducing paid subscriptions AFAIC they are actually marking the value of their businesses to market, as in they a
AI ain't paying off (Score:2)
Tech giants took huge risks with AI, money's not coming back, and now they scramble to monetize any last bit of value they have left.
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This is double true with both Meta's Metaverse and its Lllama, which is such a joke AI that no one uses it any more and the entire team is at risk of being disbanded.
Just the basics (Score:2)
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F. B. Purity [fbpurity.com] gives you a reverse-chronological feed and zaps most ads. Downside is it only works in a browser on the desktop, but then again that's the only sort-of-safe way to use Facebook. [skoll.ca]
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F. B. Purity [fbpurity.com] gives you a reverse-chronological feed and zaps most ads. Downside is it only works in a browser on the desktop, but then again that's the only sort-of-safe way to use Facebook. [skoll.ca]
Dang, even the old review quoted on that page about what some guy didn't like about Facebook sounds like some sort of hazy, pristine, nostalgic wonderful version of it!
F.B. Purity Reviewed in The Washington Post:
Like several bazillion other users, I like using Facebook to keep tabs on what my friends are up to. What I don't like is the endless stream of "so-and-so took this quiz" and "Joe became friends with Jane" messages and "What Kind of Jedi Are You?" come-ons.
That's why I just became a fan of Facebook Purity, a browser extension / add-on that removes those annoying quiz and application notifications from your Facebook home page.
Personally, I'm loving this add-on. Anything that cuts down Facebook clutter is a winner in my book.
productivity and creativity? (Score:2)
How about pay for no ads or tracking? (Score:2)
Many people avoid Meta products because of the predatory pricing model. In that model, "payment" means giving up our privacy and control of our data to advertisers and data brokers. Instead, offer a model where we pay directly, and give us control of our own data again.
Any other deal is pointless. Any "premium" service is for their benefit, not ours.
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Instead, offer a model where we pay directly, and give us control of our own data again.
Any other deal is pointless.
The problem is that even *this* deal is pointless.
I'd gladly pay $10/month or something (maybe $15/month for FB/IG/WA together) to get the "no ads, no tracking" option...but the problem is that I'd never take them up on the offer, because the only means of verification that would be granted that the data isn't being collected anyway is, "trust me, bro". There's no means of independent verification that Meta wouldn't be keeping two-sets-of-books, so that paying customers truly aren't present in the first set
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You are right. And also, the advertiser/data broker won't want the data for "only people who don't pay." They are going to be very interested in those people.
Nice! (Score:3)
Not only are you the product, you now can PAY to be the product!
Meetup does this. (Score:2)
A weekly gathering uses Meetup. Meetup SUCKS, but they layer in all of these appeals to getting a subscription, because ... I guess they we get access to the Prime Suckage? Like, do they have an entirely different set of engineers and managers running a parallel system which is much more user-centric?
I can't imagine this will be any better. Facebook is terrible in so many ways. I am willing to pay for a YouTube package to get out of YouTube's ads, but over time I'm gradually realizing that doesn't solve
OH PLEASE (Score:2)
Lock AI features behind premium subscription! PLEASE!
I potentially approve of this... (Score:2)
I would consider using a fee-based social media platform if: (1) it never shows me ads; (2) it never shows me content except from people or groups I've explicitly chosen to follow; (3) it always presents posts to me in reverse-chronological order; and (4) it does not sell my personal information and does not use my personal information for algorithmic purposes or to drive "engagement".
I think I'd pay between $3 and $5 (CAD) per month for a decent platform like this if enough of my friends were on it too.
Lootboxes next? (Score:1)
We're no longer just the product... (Score:3)
Put AI behind a paywall (Score:2)
So that I can ignore it easier.
So pay them so they can make $$ on our data (Score:2)