Instagram has been busy with a string of initiatives lately to boost its social media platform and capitalize on monetization techniques.
The latest of these is a new "Exclusive Stories" feature, which was discovered by reverse engineer and full stack Android developer Alessandro Paluzzi. The code Paluzzi found shows the layout of the future option to post paywalled content, much like Twitter's upcoming Super Follows feature. This will allow certain Instagram users to deliver paid content to fans who are paying a regular fee for access to it.
Although Instagram hasn't made any official announcements regarding Exclusive Stories, they've acknowledged that it is something they're working on after news of Paluzzi's discovery spread. Public testing hasn't started yet, nor have any details been released, as Instagram still seems to be preparing for an effective launch.
Тhe leaked screenshots of the "Exclusive Stories" feature show an advanced stage of development, which means that it's sure to arrive to the platform sometime in the near future.
As per the screenshots, these paywalled posts will be set apart from regular stories by a marked purple color. And if you haven't paid your dues to the creator yet, you will see a message across the story stating that "Only members of _____ can see this story." Naturally, these exclusive stories will not be able to be screenshotted even by paid members.
Creators of Exclusive Stories will be prompted to share their story as a Highlight as well, so that "fans always have something to see when they join."
There is currently no other information on Exclusive Stories circulating beyond this, which was originally reported on by TechCrunch.
NFT Collectibles
Alessandro Paluzzi has also caught on to a "collectibles" NFT feature, the details around which are even less clear as of yet. Essentially, it's another way to allow Instagram users to sell certain virtual goods (NFTs, or non-fungible tokens) in exchange for money, increasing Instagram's revenue as well.
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Both Exclusive Stories and Collectibles fall into Instagram's recently announced mission to increase the flow of cash on the platform across many fronts. The following is a statement from the Head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, given at Instagram's Creator Week last month:
We need to create if we want to be the best platform for creators long term, a whole suite of things, or tools, that creators can use to help do what they do. [...] I think it’s super important that we create a whole suite of different tools, because what you might use and what would be relevant for you as a creator might be very different than an athlete or a writer. And so, largely, [the creator monetization tools] fall into three categories. One is commerce — so either we can do more to help with branded content; we can do more with affiliate marketing…we can do more with merch. The second is ways for users to actually pay creators directly — so whether it is gated content or subscriptions or tips, like badges, or other user payment-type products. I think there’s a lot to do there. I love those because those give creators a direct relationship with their fans — which I think is probably more sustainable and more predictable over the long run.
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