Alejandro Arrieche
Meta Platforms is reportedly stopping the payment of bonuses for Reels on both Instagram and Facebook.
The decision, first reported by Business Insider, comes with Meta Platforms (META) exploring new alternatives for creators to monetize this format such as including advertisements
The bonuses were the main reason why creators embraced the new format – it was first launched in 2021 as Meta saw the growing popularity of TikTok and understood the need to stay embrace video to stay relevant to a younger audience
The popularity of Reels has progressively grown since they were officially launched in 2019 and they currently play a major role in the Instagram user interface.
“We are evolving the test of our Reels Play bonus on Instagram and Facebook as we focus on investing in a suite of monetization solutions to help creators earn steady streams of income,” a spokesperson from Meta told The Verge.
With Reels bonuses, creators could earn up to $35,000 a month if their content was eligible for the program, although only creators within the United States and India were initially allowed to participate.
However, content in several languages including French, Hindi, Arab, English, and Spanish was admitted.
Meta said that it will honor all of its current commitments with creators for the next 30 days.
Meta Shares its Vision for Facebook – Will it Be a Creator-Centered Platform?
In a blog post shared earlier this week, Meta shared its plans for the future of Facebook.
The company started by refusing the idea that the pioneer social media platform was dead or dying and emphasized that Facebook has over 2 billion daily active users and that the platform is “thriving”.
New tools have been added to Facebook Reels that have been available on Instagram previously, such as the possibility of creating a video from scratch by using old photos or video and synchronizing music.
Meta said that over 140 billion Reels are played across its two social media platforms every day and that Facebook is using artificial intelligence (AI) to recommend many content formats to users aside from just Reels.
The company acknowledged that Facebook itself is not a creator-centered app. This is possibly the reason it is adding some of the formats – that have been widely successful on Instagram – in an effort to turn what has always been a friends-and-family-focused app into an actual social network.
“We’re heavily invested in building tools for creators. We’ve been working to greatly simplify the Facebook experience for creators, rolling out more formats for creative expression, providing tools to help grow and manage fan communities, and expanding ways to earn income as a creator on Facebook,” the company asserted.
Big Changes Are Happening in the Social Media Space
Meta Platforms has been busy this year to respond to the significant changes that the social media space and consumer preferences are experiencing lately.
Even though the platform appears to have successfully addressed the TikTok threat with the – late – launch of Reels, other new technologies are now taking over and could mark the beginning of a new era for these platforms.
One example of this is AI as the rising popularity of ChatGPT has pushed social media companies such as Snapchat to embrace generative AI solutions.
The public has responded positively to this trend and users are enjoying their interactions with a smart chatbot that has turned into some kind of a virtual assistant.
Meanwhile, short videos continue to dominate the content formats war and more platforms are focusing on increasing the relevance of these creations on their respective interfaces.
This is the case of YouTube, whose Shorts are now being monetized in a similar way as regular videos, while companies such as Spotify (SPOT).
Neither are traditional social media networks but are now supporting the creation of short video stories by artists as an engagement tool.
Meta is once again being pressured to respond to these changes. The company seems to have learned its lesson with TikTok and it appears to be engaged and resolute to stay relevant.
As for the metaverse, Meta has deemed this project as a long-term play, meaning that not much should be expected on this front for now.
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This article was written for Business 2 Community by Alejandro Arrieche.
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