Facebook and Instagram will soon boast a blue check for American users, who will show their identity and pay for the service. In today’s latest BNN News, the verified subscription service will be rolled out in the US soon by Meta Platforms, Inc. The company already conducted feasibility tests of the services in New Zealand and Australia in February 2023.
Monthly fee of $11.99 for access to Facebook through a web browser
Meta is the holding company of both Instagram and Facebook. The users, who sign up for access to Facebook via a web browser, will have to pay a monthly subscription fee of $11.99. US users who sign up for Instagram and Facebook through a mobile app need to pay a monthly fee of $14.99.
Authenticate accounts using a government ID
Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO, has unveiled the new service on his Instagram stories. He asked the users to enroll on the waiting list. The blue check mark to build links was initially reserved for celebrities, journalists, and politicians. It is now available for all users in the US. According to a statement from the company, Americans need to authenticate their accounts using a government id.
Benefits of a verified subscription
The users of Blue Check can enjoy benefits like reaching a customer care executive to solve issues related to their accounts and improve security checks. According to a release from the company, the Blue Check Mark is restricted to Americans aged 18 and above. This service is currently not available for business users. The users, who already own verified accounts according to previous requirements, will not see any changes to their accounts.
The economic downturn in the US is forcing tech giants to look for alternative revenue streams. The new service is part of this effort to shore up revenues for Meta in the current scenario. Meta will soon lay off an additional ten thousand employees. It is the second round of retrenchment in the recent period. The company says all these measures are intended to improve its efficiency in a difficult business climate with an expected recession coming soon.
Twitter provided its users with the Blue Check Mark service
The microblogging platform, Twitter, offered the paid subscription “Blue Check” service to its users in December 2022. Subscribers to the updated service can also edit their tweets. It was introduced by Elon Musk, who acquired Twitter in October 2022 for $44 billion, to make a turnaround.
Meta issues an update to its employees
In a communication to his employees, the CEO of Meta, Mark Zuckerberg, said he aims to make Meta a better technology company. In the most recent USA news, he also claimed to have put in place plans to improve the company’s financial performance in the most difficult economic environment.
Mark Zuckerberg earmarked the following as part of his plans to improve the efficiency of the company in the future:
- Improve the productivity of developers
- Make changes to organizational processes to improve efficiency
- optimization of distributed work
Mark Zuckerberg went on to say that he will implement these organizational changes soon to overcome this economic uncertainty and focus on important work. In the next 6 months, the leaders in the organization will reduce their hiring spree and cancel low-priority projects. He would announce the layoffs in the tech group towards the end of April 2023.
Author’s bio – Sruti is a storyteller for all travel. She loves to write about everything — from fashion to travel. She is a phenomenal singer, an ardent reader, and dreams to travel the world.
