Meta has begun testing a new premium subscription for Instagram users, introducing additional features focused on Stories as the company expands its paid offerings across its platforms.
The subscription, called Instagram Plus, is currently being tested in select countries and offers users new ways to control visibility, engagement, and interaction within the app.
New Features Focus On Story Privacy And Engagement
Among the features included in Instagram Plus is the ability to view a Story without notifying the poster, allowing users to browse content anonymously.
Subscribers can also see how many people have rewatched their own Stories, offering more detailed engagement insights beyond standard view counts.
The subscription introduces expanded audience controls, enabling users to create multiple custom lists for Stories instead of relying solely on a single Close Friends group. This allows more granular sharing options with different segments of followers.
Extended Visibility And Interaction Tools
Instagram Plus also allows users to extend a Story’s lifespan by an additional 24 hours and to spotlight a Story once per week, pushing it to the front of followers’ Stories feeds.
Other features include animated “Superlike” reactions and the ability to search within the Story viewer list to quickly check if a specific user has viewed a post.
Pricing And Market Testing
Meta has not officially disclosed all test regions, but reports indicate the subscription is being tested in countries including Mexico, Japan, and Philippines.
Pricing varies by region, with reported monthly costs of approximately $2.20 in Mexico, $2 in Japan, and $1.07 in the Philippines.
The company said it will continue testing before deciding on a broader rollout.
Positioning Within Meta’s Subscription Strategy
Instagram Plus is separate from Meta Verified, which targets creators and businesses with features such as account verification and impersonation protection.
The new subscription is aimed at general users and reflects Meta’s broader effort to introduce additional revenue streams through paid features across its apps, including Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp.
Other social platforms have already established subscription models. Snap recently reported that Snapchat+ has reached more than 25 million subscribers, demonstrating demand for premium social media features.
User Response And Market Context
The introduction of another subscription option comes amid growing concerns about subscription fatigue, with some users expressing dissatisfaction on social media following early reports of the feature.
Meta did not provide details on adoption rates or timelines for expansion beyond the current test markets.
Featured image credits: Wikimedia Commons
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