Instagram to Let Creators Limit Posts, Reels to Subscribers

pcmag.com:

Instagram has expanded a subscription pilot it launched in January to include a wider set of creators and new features.

In a video(Opens in a new window) released today, Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram, announced that creators can now engage exclusively with up to 30 subscribers via private chats. Creators can also create subscriber-exclusive Reels and Posts that paying followers can find via a new “subscriber home” feature on the creator's account.

“At the end of the day, if you’re a creator, you’re a business,” says Mosseri in the video. “This is just one step on a much longer path to provide creators everywhere with a whole range of tools to be able to make a living online.”

Mosseri says that "eligible" creators can check out the features now; here's a rundown(Opens in a new window) on how you can qualify to offer subscriptions.

The top paid earners on Instagram—celebrities like the Kardashians, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson—are already making over a million dollars per post, largely through brand partnerships, GQ reports(Opens in a new window). Subscriptions move away from post-based payments and generate a more stable, predictable stream of income. This benefits creators of all kinds—not just major celebrities—man of whom rely on the platform.

In some ways, the announcement can be read as a land grab from TikTok (or land reclamation, as Instagram is six years older). The two social media platforms have nearly identical features and many shared users, but while TikTok is the top app globally for consumer spend, Forbes reports(Opens in a new window), Instagram doesn’t even make the top 10. Even though Instagram is the top-downloaded app (TikTok is number two), users aren’t opening their wallets for