In 2022, despite Meta’s heavy setback in the Metaverse, it will continue to gain momentum on Web3.
On November 3, 2022, Meta announced that creators will soon be able to make their own NFTs on Instagram and sell them to followers on and off Instagram.
Meta says creators will have an end-to-end toolkit — from creation (with Polygon blockchain support first), to showcase, to sale. People can easily support their favorite creators by purchasing their digital collectibles directly in Instagram through the Metamask wallet.
Meta said the sub-feature is first being tested in the US with a small group of creators and will expand to more countries soon.
In addition to the blockchains and wallets already supported, Meta has expanded the types of digital collectibles that can be featured on Instagram, including videos, and will add support for the Solana blockchain and Phantom wallet. Meta will also feature curated collection information via OpenSea metadata, such as collection names and descriptions, which will also be featured on Instagram.
In addition, Stephane Kasriel, Head of Fintech and Web3 at Meta, said that Arweave, a blockchain storage protocol, has now been integrated into Meta, which uses Arweave to store Instagram creators’ NFTs.
Stephane Kasriel said that blockchain has a role to play in helping creators make money, as it could enable entirely new business models for creators, giving them more control over their work and audience and how to monetize it. By introducing NFTs natively on Instagram, it is expected to achieve this goal and facilitate new forms of connection between billions of people and their favorite creators.