Instagram is testing a new feature that allows users to create and sell NFTs. Here’s how One OG Creator uses it
If there was one takeaway from Facebook’s much-maligned rebrand last October, it was that Zuckerberg Inc. telegraphed a willingness to corner and monetize the metaverse.
Year one of Meta has been a disaster. The company’s share price has fallen nearly 75 percent, its Reality Labs division was operating at a loss of $3.7 billion, and Horizon Worlds, its signature virtual reality app, has seen a third of its users leave since February. Time, perhaps, for a risk-free bet: NFTs on Instagram.
On November 2, Meta announced that Instagram users will soon be able to mint, display and sell NFTs (or digital collectibles, as they prefer to call them) on the platform thanks to the Polygon blockchain, prized for its speed and scalability. Back in May, Meta gave users the ability to link their Instagram account with a crypto wallet and share digital collectibles on their profile. Now the platform has taken a significant step towards becoming an NFT marketplace.
First, as part of the annual Creator Week, it’s testing the feature with a group of crypto artists, including Amber Vittoria, Refik Anadol, Drift and Diana Sinclair.
The lineup includes Olive Allen, the New York-based digital artist who sold the first NFT at an art fair back in 2021, and whose playful depictions of sheep, teddy bears, and indeed herself, trade for tens of thousands on NFT marketplaces.
“The new feature will enable anyone to create NFTs,” Allen told Artnet News. “It will allow artists and content creators to find new ways to connect with their communities; I think this is a step in the right direction towards mass adoption and metaverse creation.”
Courtesy Meta
Meta’s move comes at an odd moment for the crypto art movement. No longer just the domain of niche online communities, NFTs have gone through a period of wild speculation and are now the concern of major museums and galleries. If Meta’s rollout is successful — a move Twitter looks set to follow — NFTs could become truly mainstream.
Having previously integrated and strengthened e-commerce capabilities for vendors, NFTs for platforms could prove a similar boon for advertising by streamlining the process of monetizing followers. In time, Meta will also hope to benefit, although it has announced that it will not start charging fees for creating or selling NFTs until 2024.
“I plan to make a small collection,” Allen said. “Most of the pieces will be affordable, so people new to NFTs can join the community and feel included.” When asked how she feels about monetizing her Instagram followers, the artist, whose first IRL solo show was held at Postmasters Gallery in May, said it was an honor that would push her to create more unique experiences for NFT holders .
Allen believes that this first batch of digital collectibles on Instagram may even trigger a bit of a backlash in the market: “The community is excited about the launch; NFT historians see it as another opportunity to collect the firsts.”
After a turbulent year, Meta will pray that she is right.
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