Instagram is testing digital collectibles with a small group of US producers and enthusiasts who will be open to sharing NFTs they’ve made or bought on the site. Zuckerberg confirmed that the social network is testing NFTs on Instagram, with “similar functionality” coming soon to Facebook.
“Similar functionality is coming to Facebook soon, along with augmented reality NFTs on Instagram Stories via Spark AR so you can place digital art into physical spaces,” he announced.
Instagram in a blog said, “Creators can now “leverage new tools to earn income, and fans can support them by purchasing digital collectibles, art, images, videos, music, or trading cards as non-fungible tokens (NFTs). At Meta, we’re looking at what creators are already doing across our technologies to improve the experience; help them create more monetization opportunities, and bring NFTs to a broader audience,” it said.
No fees for posting or collecting items
Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri mentioned in a video that a small set of US users will see NFTs in their feeds, stories, and messages. When you click on the “digital collectibles” tag, you’ll see information like the creator’s name and the NFT’s owner.
“This week we’re beginning to test digital collectibles with a handful of US creators and collectors who will be able to share NFTs on Instagram. There will be no fees associated with posting or sharing a digital collectible on Instagram,” said Mosseri.
“I want to acknowledge upfront that NFTs and blockchain technologies and Web3 more broadly are all about distributing trust, distributing power,” Mosseri said. “But Instagram is fundamentally a centralized platform, so there’s a tension there.”
NFTs minted on the Ethereum and Polygon blockchains will be supported initially, with Solana and Flow coming soon, according to Meta spokesperson Christine Pai.
According to data from the famous website NonFungible, Instagram’s push for NFTs comes at a time when NFT sales have dropped by 92% since September last year. Last week, the daily average sale of NFTs was under 19,000. It was down 92 percent from a peak of around 225,000 in September 2021.