New features behind a paywall include spotlighting one story per week, previewing stories without showing up as a viewer and extending your stories for 24 hours.
Meta is now testing premium subscriptions on its social media app Instagram, two months after its parent company Meta confirmed it would be paywalling certain features on not only Instagram but also WhatsApp and Facebook.
Instagram’s core uses will remain free, but it’ll enable more premium features like seeing who has watched your story multiple times, creating unlimited stories lists beyond just “close friends,” spotlighting one story per week so more people see it, making a super heart reaction for stories, extending your stories for another 24 hours and previewing stories without showing up as a viewer.
The features are being tested across several countries, as reported earlier Monday by TechCrunch. According to that report, the Instagram Premium feature set hovers at around $1 to $2 in countries where it’s being tested, including Mexico, Japan and the Philippines. Instagram did not confirm pricing.
The new features sound more applicable to professional creators than casual users of the app, so there’s no need to worry (yet) that you’ll have to pay for yet another sub just to scroll through your favorite photo-sharing app. But subscriptions and paywalls are becoming more common in the world of social media, with LinkedIn, X and Snapchat all having paid options with more features.
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