On Wednesday, November 2, Facebook’s parent firm Meta made an important announcement on its decision to expand the NFT ecosystem. Meta announced that creators on the Instagram platform will be soon able to make their digital collectibles and sell them to fans both on and off the platform.
Instagram’s native NFT marketplace will first add support for Polygon-based NFTs. The company said that it would be sharing an end-to-end toolkit right from creating, showcasing, and selling their NFTs.
Meta that it would first roll-out this feature to a few selected Instagram creators based out of the United States of America. They would later roll out this feature to other countries. Some of the popular creators selected for this NFT feature include photographer DrifterShoots, artist Amber Vittoria, and visual artist Ilse Valfre.
As said, Instagram will first use the Polygon blockchain to mint their NFTs. Additionally, Instagram will be able to pull metadata from NFT marketplace OpenSea, to view a large set of NFT collections directly on Instagram. This information will include collection name and description.
Besides, Meta has also expanded different types of digital collectibles that creators can showcase on their Instagram profile. The tech giant has also expanded access to subscriptions on Instagram for all eligible creators in the United States.
This will allow more creators to generate consistent income and also build closer relationships with their followers. Furthermore, Meta has also introduce gifts on Instagram starting with Reels. This way, followers can gift and support to their favourite creators on Reels.
As said, Meta is building its strategy around the rapidly evolving Web 3.0 space. Earlier in May, Meta announced that it is rolling out wallet connection feature to select creators. Stephane Kasriel, Meta’s Head of Commerce and Fintech, Meta’s Web 3.0 strategy said that they will focus on helping creators make a living.
She further added: “We believe Web3 tech, like blockchain, will positively enhance the economic model for creators by giving them the ability to create new types of digital assets to monetize.”
Meta has said that it won’t be charging any fee for NFT trades made through its application until 2024. Earlier in September, it also said that Facebook and Instagram users can connect their wallets and share their digital collectibles. This will also allow people to cross-post their digital assets across the two platforms.