Instagram expands NFT feature to creators worldwide

Meta is introducing NFTs to a fresh group of Instagram users worldwide.

The tech giant and Instagram parent company said Thursday that its digital collectibles — rolled out to U.S. users in May — are going global.

Creators and businesses in around 100 countries across Africa, Asia-Pacific, the Middle East and the Americas will now be able to share their NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens) on Instagram. A spokesperson declined to comment on whether Europe is included.

This feature allows users to connect to a digital wallet, share NFTs, and automatically tag both a creator and collector for attribution.

Zuckerberg posted a “coming soon NFT” of his Little League baseball card on Instagram “in honor” of the expansion.

Instagram is also set to support Coinbase Wallet and Dapper Wallet connections in addition to the standing integrations of Rainbow, MetaMask and Trust Wallet. Creators can also post digital collectibles minted on the Flow blockchain, as well as Ethereum and Polygon.

“This milestone reflects Meta’s continued work to expand access to web3 technology through NFTs, supporting creators who want to monetize their work and build community with fans and collectors,” the company said in a statement.

Meta recently outlined how the company is focusing on “rolling out more ways for creators to monetize Facebook and Instagram,” Zuckerberg wrote in a Facebook post in June.

At Instagram, the goal is to facilitate branded content partnerships between creators and brands, according to the company. The platform plans to start testing in-app payments, allowing brands to pay creators for branded content via the social media platform.

Users can also display and share digital collectibles such as augmented reality stickers in Instagram Stories. Snapchat has allowed users to create and share similar effects in the app for a couple of years.

On Facebook, creators can grant paying subscribers on other platforms access to subscriber-only Facebook groups. And those fans can show love to their favorite creators by sending stars – a digital good fans can buy.

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