Meta, the social media behemoth, has made another step toward web3 adoption by announcing a new digital collectibles feature for Instagram creators. During its Creator Week 2022, Meta introduced this new function and disclosed that it had partnered with Polygon to enable NFT minting and selling on Instagram.
The social media platform will offer creators a complete toolkit and guide them through the process. Currently, this feature is only available to a limited group of creators living in the United States. Furthermore, Instagram users can connect their Solana and Phantom wallets and showcase alternative digital collectibles, such as videos.
“In addition,” Meta added in a statement, “information for certain collections where the metadata has been supplemented by OpenSea, such as collection name and descriptions, will now be available on Instagram.” With this functionality, Instagram creators will get a new revenue source as fans can support their work by purchasing digital art from within the app.
Stephane Kasriel, Meta’s head of commerce and financial technology, shared some insight into the NFT venture’s fees. “Until 2024, Meta will not charge costs to manufacture or sell digital collectibles (though in-app purchases will still be subject to app store fees), and at launch, we’ll pay blockchain fees (known as “gas fees”) for buyers,” he added in a statement.
This new feature arrived nearly five months after the social media giant first made NFTs available on Instagram. On May 10, Meta announced intentions to allow users to connect their digital wallets and view Ethereum-based NFTs.
Third-party wallets like Rainbow, MetaMask, and Trust Wallet were highlighted as compatible possibilities for the new venture. Meta’s massive bet in web3 has been fraught with controversy. Shareholders of the business formerly known as Facebook are becoming concerned as Zuckerberg’s bet on the metaverse fails to pay off.
Horizon Worlds, the company’s flagship metaverse product, has failed to meet internal requirements, causing investors and web3 stakeholders to be concerned. The firm has stated that its web3 ambitions are long-term and that present obstacles would not deter its metaverse objectives.