In 2019, something happened that shook the internet and established the shape of things
to come.
Facebook, without any announcement, a post from Zuckerberg or any pomp or circumstance,
changed the tagline on the facebook.com homepage.
From Facebook's inception and it's launched to the public in September 2006, the tagline
has always read or had always read.
It's free and always will be.
But in 2019, they quietly changed it to, it's quick and easy.
Why?
Some say this was a clear first sign that the company was exploring some kind of paid
subscription service or structure.
However, if you were paying attention, a year prior in 2018, Zuckerberg uttered these fateful
words during a joint hearing of the US Senate Judiciary and Commerce Committees to which
he was testifying.
He said, yes, there will always be a version of Facebook that is free.
Note this specific and carefully thought out turn of phrase, a version of Facebook.
So the writing has been on the wall for some time.
Of course, despite all of these signs, marketers know that the social media landscape dominated
for decades by Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube has never technically been free.
Attention has always had a price.
And in the early days of social networking, we the users were the primary product.
We signed up, we gave up our private information, we never read the terms and conditions.
Well, maybe some of us did.
But very soon we figured out that our eyeballs and our information was being sold to the
highest bidder.
Likes, clicks, video views, that was and is the currency that powered social media.
There's a famous quote circulating the internet, sometimes attributed to Steve Jobs, sometimes
attributed to a Google ethicist and several others that says, if you aren't paying for
the product, you are the product.
No matter who said it first, it's taken off as the modern day business model of social
networks and more.
But our time and our attention have value.
The time and the capacity and the creative resources we put into creating content for
these supposedly free platforms that comes at a cost.
I've always said that Facebook is free, like a puppy is free or could be free if you get
a free puppy.
But even more than that, the social media platforms showed their hand fairly quickly.
They weren't in this to quote, connect the world or quote, capture and share the world's
moments or, you know, insert cheesy corporate tagline.
It's important for us as users and consumers to fully recognize that they operate as multi-billion
dollar businesses answering not to us, but to their shareholders.
And many of us know that to get visibility and reach on Facebook for years has been paid
to play and it used to be cheap.
It was the gold rush of advertising and getting clicks and shares and video views came cheap
and plentiful.
But the data on organic reach in 2023 even paid reach is anything but hopeful.
According to Hootsuite, the average engagement rate for a Facebook page post is 0.07%.
Photo posts get the highest engagement at 0.12%, followed by status posts, 0.11%, video posts,
0.8%, link posts, 0.4%.
Content rates do vary significantly based on the number of page followers, shockingly
with small pages getting the highest engagement.
So the end of free social media has always just been around the corner, but let's unpack
the implications of the new meta-verified announcement and why it's just happening now.
So in 2023, social media companies, let's stop calling them networks or platforms, can't
make as much money off free users anymore.
This is because of three main changes to their business model.
One, an overall weaker advertising market.
Now, meta's revenue has slowed in recent months with a 55% year on year decline in net
income in the fourth quarter of 2022.
They are laying off people right and left.
Because the other day they laid off another 10,000 workers.
Number two, increased privacy restrictions imposed by huge companies like Apple that
make it harder to track users and their preferences.
You might remember in 2021, Apple's iOS update forced app developers to ask users for their
permission to track them.
And if you use an iPhone, you've probably seen this by now.
When you use apps, you'll get a little pop-up saying, do you really want this app tracking
your behavior across the web?
94% of those users opted out and social media advertising services struggle to reach the
right audiences.
So this is arguably good for the user if you're data privacy conscious, but it's bad
for businesses that rely on advertising.
Facebook lost $10 billion in 2022.
Number three, threats of regulation, although very weak threats if we listen to the recent
Supreme Court cases that have made it harder for these companies to sell advertising like
they used to.
Although the Supreme Court does not seem especially eager to take this on, in fact, they seem
pretty hesitant.
They don't necessarily want to overturn or significantly narrow legal protections under
Section 230, just Google it.
The possibility remains that they may limit immunity for websites in ways that could reshape
what users see in their apps or browsers or in Google's words, upend the internet.
So regulation is definitely possible.
Enter meta verified.
What is meta verified?
It is quote, a subscription bundle to help you establish and grow your presence on Instagram
and Facebook.
So what does this mean for nonprofits?
Here's what you need to know.
It's now available in the US after having been rolled out slowly in Australia and New
Zealand for people 18 years or older.
Meta verified costs $15 a month for an iOS or Android subscription and $12 a month for
a web subscription.
You have to get two subscriptions if you want to verify both your Instagram and Facebook
accounts.
US members will get exclusive stickers on Facebook and Instagram stories and Facebook
Reels and 100 stars a month to show support for their favorite creators.
Now in Australia and New Zealand, meta verified also includes and we're going to talk about
this more increased visibility, but the company is still testing the feature before deciding
whether to expand it to more regions.
Really important, it's important to know that meta verified is not available for business
accounts.
It's not available for pages.
It's only available for personal accounts and profiles.
The service is aimed at creator types and this seems strange to me because they had such
a big push to get everyone to create a business page or a business Instagram account way back
when.
So do we all have to shift over again?
What are the benefits of meta verified specifically?
Keep in mind that the benefits as listed on their website are very vague and they have
not been tested or proven, but this is what they list.
What you get?
A blue verification badge.
Allegedly helps your community know it's the real you with a verified badge and they use
a verification process that requires a government ID to securely establish your accounts authenticity,
which I think is great.
Two, exclusive features, stickers, hundreds, stars a month.
I mean, who knows what that means.
If you're a creator, you might know what that means.
You also get proactive account protection.
So I don't know, more protection against account impersonation, two factor authentication.
I thought we were all getting that anyway.
And then the two most important features that I think are important or that I think are
notable access to a real person and customer support to help with common account issues,
which sadly, as we know, this is next to impossible in our customer service lists economy.
Most importantly, but most vaguely, you will allegedly get quote increased reach and visibility,
unquote.
This means users who pay will have their content shown in more in search comments and recommendations.
Who knows what that means?
Expand your reach with increased visibility and prominence in some parts of Instagram
and Facebook, like comments, search and recommendations.
That's what they write on their website.
Here's one of the footnotes in Meta's recent announcement about meta verified quote increased
visibility may vary depending on a subscribers existing audience size and the topic of their
posts.
Subscribers with a smaller following may see a more noticeable impact to their reach since
their audiences are smaller.
What?
I don't what does that mean?
Isn't that what ads are for?
Come on, meta.
What's the difference?
It all remains to be seen.
Now we know that meta has taken notes and often adapts what other competitors in the
space are doing, but I think this is a different thing.
So Elon Musk launched Twitter blue, which was a complete joke and a failure, but has
since been cleaned up a bit where users can pay.
I don't even know $8, $11 a month to sign up and you get a blue check mark, the ability
to edit posts and a few other perks, most of which are still in the coming soon phase.
Maybe fewer ads, the ability to post longer videos, your tweets will be amplified blah,
blah, blah, blah.
However, it remains to be seen if Twitter blue is going to be successful or even make any
real money for Elon and co.
One report said that Twitter only has 290,000 blue subscribers worldwide, which comes out
to roughly $2.4 million a month and Twitter's losing like $3 million a month at least.
This pay to get extra VIP features, this premium tier idea, it's really nothing new.
It's part of an industry trend that has taken off in the past few years.
So you know, Snap Inc, YouTube owned by Google and Discord have all introduced or expanded
premium products that charge users for special perks like Snap, give subscribers, early access
to new features, YouTube serves us fewer ads and Discord provides more customization
options for people's chat channels.
So just as it copies successful features from other platforms or requires them outright,
it appears that Meta is taking a hard look at these trends, seeing the possibilities,
seeing dollar signs in its eyes and trying to make it their own.
But is this the right decision?
So let's dive into the implications of what all of this means and why people might want
to play the paid social media game.
Well number one, creators place a premium on increased trust and credibility.
So what's interesting to me is that Meta is trying to upsell users at a time when they're
slower growth already, even with there being a free tier to these apps.
So now you're asking more people to sign up and use your app and on top of that to pay
money when it's already free and people are not signing up in the same numbers as they
used to.
The thing is we can't deny that millions of people use these platforms to make money
and to run businesses.
The influencer industry on social media was worth an estimated $16 billion in 2022.
And although TikTok is still growing, Instagram is still the most popular influencer marketing
platform for brands and businesses.
And Facebook and Instagram, they're especially popular with business owners.
And we know with nonprofits with over 20, 20, 200 million businesses active on Facebook
and over 214 million nonprofits active on Facebook alone.
So in a world where trust and credibility is negligible, it's more important than ever
to know who you are following, even though pages cannot be verified yet.
I am positive that is coming.
Okay, the second implication, security and support is now a luxury, not a given.
Okay.
Metavarified isn't really offering ease or much of anything.
Instead, it's asking users to pay for services that keep them safer on its own platforms.
I see this like the mafia, right?
The mafia comes in to your laundromat and they say, hey, you've got to pay for protection,
right?
I really see it as strong army people.
And certain things should be expected.
You know, do I not have protection against account impersonation if I don't get verified
and will there literally be no customer service for the free version, even as pathetically
little as there is now?
So while it may seem like Facebook's charging for something it used to do for free, it's
actually charging for something it never did or it never did well.
Implication number three, further blurring of the lines between paid and organic content.
So with Metavarified, the company is even further blurring the lines between paid advertising
and organic content.
So people are already complaining that their Facebook and Instagram feeds are full of unwanted
ads.
Like, will people enjoy this more commercialized experience?
Ah, it's doubtful.
So, you know, creators who rely on Instagram for their livelihoods may enjoy the boost,
but will the everyday user?
So before on Facebook and Instagram, when you saw an ad, it was clearly marked as an
ad.
Now you don't know if you're seeing a post because someone paid to get the premium Metavarified
and their contents being boosted or if that post is really the most interesting or relevant
content for you.
Now, I've heard a lot of complaints from users over the years that Instagram can like feels
too commercial.
There's too many people promoting themselves.
There's too many people promoting their product.
There's too many ads.
And I think this runs a risk of pushing that even further and blurring the line between
advertisements and regular content on social media.
Maybe that's the intention, but I think it's going to backfire.
Implication number four, what is the cost and the value of quote unquote more reach and
visibility?
We know what we want.
We know why we use social media, getting seen, getting attention, getting in front of the
right audience.
But isn't that what paid advertising was all about?
Will Metavarified decrease the amount of paid ads on the site?
It remains to be seen.
We know that younger generations are leaving Facebook in droves, but they're also leaving
Instagram and a recent article on business insider.
It says Instagram's trouble lies in the very thing that drove its initial success.
Its algorithm is optimized for the users who made the platform popular influencers.
But by focusing on its power users, the platform loses out on engagement by regular people.
TikTok's secret sauce is its ability to keep users on the platform and without sacrificing
its core Instagram won't be able to compete.
Very, very like food for thought.
This is why people have been switching over to TikTok.
So TikTok has attracted a brand new generation of creators and they've switched over from
Instagram because they say it's easier to go viral, even if you are a relative amateur
with no following.
Now TikTok doesn't have a premium subscription model yet, but it is successfully expanding
its advertising business at a time when that of meta and twitter has slowed down.
It remains to be seen whether or not TikTok will have to be sold and if TikTok is going
to be banned in the United States.
All of that, as of this recording, up in the air.
Surveys by the Pew Research Center found that the proportion of teenagers who said they're
on TikTok almost constantly was 50% higher than those who said the same about Instagram.
And to me, Facebook, like Facebook before it, it seems like Instagram is becoming less
and less relevant and struggling to do anything about it.
So this seems to me a kind of a ploy to creators to say, hey, come back to Instagram and if
you get verified, we'll give you more reach and visibility.
Of course, we have literally no idea what that means.
So I understand the value of paying for a service like YouTube or Spotify.
Hello, like Spotify is, I will pay for that until I'm in the grave.
And you know, anything else that has a freemium, you know, if you can optimize it to your preferences
to create a better experience, get rid of ads, more customization, I get it.
But what rubs me the wrong way here is how Facebook and Zuckerberg specifically always
assured us that it would be free, you know, like free forever.
So many questions abound.
So let's take this back to you.
Do you plan to explore meta verified?
Do you have a subscription model, Twitter blue, YouTube premium?
What do you think?
Are you going to explore it for your personal content?
What happens if they expand it to pages?
Would you be interested?
I really want to hear from you.
So you know, tag me on Instagram at Julia Campbell, seven, seven.
Let me know what you think.
Send me an email and don't forget to join me on April 24th as I show you how to stand
out on social media in 2023.
If you're listening to this after April 24th, you're able to purchase the recording.
Let's go to www.nonprofitsocialmediatrends.com and you'll find all the information.
Until then keep changing the world.
You non-profit unicorn.
Thanks for listening.
Thank you.