• by Colin Kirkland , July 15, 2022

Meta is attempting to provide creators on Instagram with a more reliable way to earn a steady income.

After testing the Subscriptions feature earlier this year, the tech giant is now launching specific tools that help creators connect their dedicated fans to exclusive content. 

Creators are now able to launch chat sessions with up to 30 people at once -- to “connect with subscribers in the moment and discuss things you’re passionate about, share your best life hacks or simply bring your subscribers together,” stated Meta in a blog post. 

Subscriber chats are powered by Messenger and can be created from a creator’s inbox or story. To “maintain balance,” chats will automatically end after 24 hours.

Chats will be made available to subscribers via a new “join chat” sticker from a creator’s story.

General followers will also be able to tap the sticker and subscribe. 

According to Meta: “The new subscriber tab in your inbox will allow you to easily organize and manage your chats with subscribers so you’ll never miss a message and can reply with ease.” 

As part of this launch, Meta has also given creators the ability to introduce their exclusive content to subscribers in the form of posts and reels, instead of just exclusive stories and live broadcasts which were added last January. 

There will also be a new tab on creators’ profiles for subscribers to click and easily discover new, exclusive content. 

Meta announced that they will not be taking fees on Subscriptions through the end of 2024 and “hope to bring Subscriptions to even more creators in the coming months,” alluding to future updates.