Meta, the conglomerate owner of social media platforms Facebook and Instagram, announced plans to allow their users to create, share, and possibly exchange NFTs on these platforms, the Financial Times first reported today.
The tech giant continues to show its acceptance of new technologies, particularly related to cryptocurrency and blockchain. With the recent launch of its Novi wallet, Meta is ready to go full-tilt into the digital economy. The Financial Times indicated that the plans for NFTs are in the early stages and could change with time.
It would appear that Meta has made this decision to catch up to its close competitor, Twitter. NFTs have been dominant on Twitter as the hype-driven asset class exploded into a $40 billion market. In September, Twitter engineer, Mada Aflak, revealed a preview of their NFT verification feature. The feature will allow users to prove through blockchain that the NFT in their profile picture is indeed theirs.
Facebook has 2.6 billion monthly active users, and the average age of users in the US is 40.5 years old. The lion’s share of Instagram users is between 25 and 34. The largest group of Twitter users (37%) are 18 to 29. According to a survey conducted by Civicscience, the demographic with the most NFT interest is between 18 and 24.
Perhaps Meta sees its older Facebook and Instagram populations as a market that has yet to be tapped by the NFT industry. With older users, it is inferable that these users have more disposable income to spend on speculative assets like NFTs.
Corporate adoption of NFTs has just begun. Nike acquired RTFKT Studios, creator of the CloneX NFTs, and Pepsi released their Pepsi Mic Drop NFT to name a couple. As more brands see the value in NFTs, they too will seek a way to profit from the technology. Meta is simply another domino.
