On January 26, Meta announced that it was going to test premium subscriptions across its apps. The subscriptions will offer exclusive features and expanded AI tools, while ad-supported versions remain free.
Under the test, users are presented with a clear choice between two paths. People can subscribe to use Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp without ads, or continue using the services for free while agreeing to ongoing data use for advertising purposes.
Meta claims the subscriptions will “unlock productivity, creativity, and AI-powered features,” with each app receiving its own set of paid tools rather than a single bundled plan. The company isn’t committing to one configuration and plans in order to experiment with different feature sets and pricing models over time.
There are a few things facebook is better at than anything in my life - checking up on distant friends that I wouldn’t call normally but I want to know the big events in their life; ensuring my parent see pictures of my kids (we don’t live in the same state). However those things only need a couple minutes of my time per day, and that isn’t enough to make them a big company and so they keep shoving garbage that doesn’t make my life better in my face. That garbage takes up hours per day of many people’s time and is worth a lot to facebook.
For most of our history, we couldn’t check on how distant friends were doing. Except through gossip I guess. Today we can be connected for decades with people we never interact with irl. I wonder if it takes a toll mentally to be attached to so many people for so long.