Every day, creators inspire people and push culture forward around the world. With the incredible opportunity of blockchain technology, they can now leverage new tools to earn income, and fans can support their favorite creators by purchasing digital collectibles – art, images and videos, music or trading cards – as non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Select creators and collectors can share their digital collectibles on Instagram.
Creators are using new technologies like NFTs to take more control over their work, their relationship with their fans, and how they can monetize. Meta is looking at what creators are already doing across technologies in order to improve the experience, help them create more monetization opportunities, and bring NFTs to a broader audience.
Introducing Digital Collectibles
Meta is beginning to test digital collectibles with a handful of U.S. creators and collectors who will be able to share NFTs on Instagram that they have created or bought. This feature includes:
- Connecting a digital wallet. Once connected, creators and collectors will have the ability to choose which NFTs from their wallet they would like to share on Instagram.
- Sharing digital collectibles. Once a creator or collector posts a digital collectible, it will have a shimmer effect and can display public information, such as a description of the NFT. Posts will also be visible on their profile.
- Automatic tagging of both the creator and collector. The creator and collector can be automatically attributed in the digital collectible post (subject to their privacy settings).
Meta collects and organizes public data from open blockchains, such as Ethereum, to provide this feature. From this public blockchain data, they can only identify which collectibles belong to collectors and creators when they connect their third-party wallets to Instagram. Starting at launch, the blockchains that will be supported are Ethereum and Polygon, with Flow and Solana coming soon. The third-party wallets compatible for use will include Rainbow, MetaMask and Trust Wallet, with Coinbase, Dapper and Phantom coming soon. There will be no fees associated with posting or sharing a digital collectible on Instagram.
For now, if you want to see digital collectibles in action, you can follow these accounts: @adambombsquad, @bluethegreat, @bossbeautiesnft, @c.syresmith, @cynthiaerivo, @garyvee, @jenstark, @justmaiko, @maliha_z_art, @misshattan, @nopattern, @oseanworld, @paigebueckers, @phiawilson, @swopes and @yungjake.
