Zuckerberg Plans New Coins for Instagram and Facebook Users

Mark Zuckerberg is working on virtual currency for Facebook and Instagram users, dubbed “Zuck dollars” by staff, as part of a suite of goods to reduce his platforms’ reliance on advertising in the future metaverse. Meta, Facebook parent company, is working on various virtual goods, including as digital tokens and “creator coins,” to diversify revenue and re-energize its user base, rapidly flocking to upstart competitors like TikTok.

While Meta is the largest social media network provider, with revenues rising 37% to $118 billion in 2021 as advertisers clamored to access Facebook and Instagram’s 4.9 billion monthly active users, TikTok has built up a significant non-ads economy centered on in-app purchases and e-commerce. Financial Times said that Meta, which has been fast to copy popular technologies pushed out by rivals such as Snapchat, is now looking for methods to monetize its user base.

“Social tokens” or “reputation tokens” are examples of products that consumers might utilize as incentives. It’s also looking into “creator coins,” which influencers on Instagram might use. TikTok, like Amazon’s Twitch, has a tipping system where fans may buy coins and then use them to buy presents for their favorite producers. Creators may also buy coins to utilize tools like Promote to increase their TikTok videos’ popularity and gain more viewers or followers.

The projects, sponsored by Facebook financial department, Meta Financial Technologies, come after the company’s ill-fated attempt to develop a worldwide cryptocurrency, dubbed Libra and subsequently Diem, which was shelved earlier this year because to regulatory concerns in the United States.