Instagram Surveys Users on Paying for Engagement

This is interesting.

Over the past week, selected Instagram users have been prompted to take part in a new survey, which seemingly points to Meta considering an option that would enable creators and brands to pay for views, likes, or other engagement in the app.

As you can see in this example (which I was presented in the app), the survey presents participants with various pricing options for additional engagement in the app.

In this first query, the survey asks whether you’d be more inclined to pay $150 to gain 600 additional profile followers, and 2k messages, or if you’d prefer to pay $1,150 for more followers and comments.

Which is a lot of engagement, and I’m guessing that a lot of brands would be interested in driving more response in the app, especially if it might lead to additional sales.

These are just two of the various package deal options presented in the survey:

Which seemingly suggests that Meta could be considering allowing people pay for followers and engagement.

But that can’t be right, can it? I mean, buying followers is very clearly against Meta’s rules, as spelled out in its Community Standards:

Meta has also taken legal action against various groups for offering paid engagement services, so this is clearly not okay.

So why would Meta be asking people if they might be interested in paying for such?

Presumably, this is part of Meta’s next push to increase Meta Verified take-up, by focusing on the key elements of appeal to the users who might pay for an extra boost in its apps. And maybe, Meta has found that it can drive these types of response, on average, through improved reach bonuses afforded to those who pay for the program.

So it’s likely another way to sweeten the deal for Meta Verified subscribers, but it is interesting to also consider that Meta may well have the capacity to give you these types of benefits, if it so chooses.

Meta has long held that it’s up to brands and creators to create content that appeals to their audience, in order to maximize performance in its apps. But clearly, Meta also has some levers that it can pull to at least assist in such, and if Meta is considering offering these engagement benchmarks for a price, it would have to be confident that it can actually make them happen, through its AI targeting and response data.

That’s very similar to what it provides with paid ads, and Meta’s likely viewing this through the same prism, amplifying the organic content of paying users to juice their response.

But it also suggests that it’s not all you, it’s not only your posts and content that will resonate. It’s whether Meta chooses to boost your stuff. And if you pay, you can glean the full benefits.

We’ve asked Meta for more information on the survey, and we’ll update this post if/when we hear back.