Instagram Introduces Subscriptions

While having already offered a subscription service on Facebook, Meta announced recently that a similar feature is coming to its Instagram platform, allowing creators to build a larger community—and potentially increase their income.

The subscriptions feature on Instagram is currently in a testing phase, with only a handful of creators being given the ability to set a monthly price of their choice for users to subscribe to their content. Subscribers will get access to exclusive content such as Lives and Stories offers, and they will be recognized with an exclusive badge that will show up next to their usernames in comments and messages.

Meta says that it won’t collect any fees from the creators earning through subscriptions until 2023 “at the earliest.”

Instagram Reportedly Testing “Edit Grid’” Option

According to reports of several Instagram account users, the platform is testing an option for ‘Grammers to edit the order in which their grid displays photos and videos.

This has long been a wish of many Instagram users, who have gone out of their way to curate their profiles with a specific aesthetic to their professional or personal brand. The grid currently places feed posts in chronological order only.

A “pinned post” option has also reportedly been teased, allowing users to highlight a particular post at the top of their grids.

This all comes as many users have turned to a less curated, more organic way of using Instagram—rendering a tirelessly organized, “perfect” grid passé.

In other Instagram news, some users have reported the ability to include up to four responses when using the popular Poll sticker—previously, the limit was two.

Polls are a great way for users and brands to engage with followers, and many users felt that the two-response option was limiting. More options allow users creating the polls to include more options for answers, like “all of the above” or “other: leave a comment.”

The updated poll sticker also reportedly allows users to change the color of text.

No official news has been released by Instagram on the update.

Snapchat Upgrades Its AR Shopping

Snapchat has made some upgrades to its augmented reality (AR) shopping experience, for the Shopping Lenses on its app as well as to the analytics shared with Snap’s brand and retail partners.

For users, shopping on the app becomes easier to use with key product information updated in real time.

As users swipe through product catalogs using AR, enabling them to “try on” different products, they’ll now be shown current product pricing as well as color details, product descriptions, and unique links to make purchases on the app.

For brands, the updates mean more data on how their AR Shopping features are performing, provided in real time. This gives brands and marketers up-to-date insights as to how certain products are performing and which styles resonate best with their Gen Z and millennial audiences, allowing them to incorporate that data into their marketing plans and future research and development.

For more information visit Snapchat’s blog.

(Photo: Getty Images Plus/pressureUA)

Follow JCK on Instagram: @jckmagazine
Follow JCK on Twitter: @jckmagazine
Follow JCK on Facebook: @jckmagazine