Facebook brings new feature for the creators to earn money

Facebook Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg said on Tuesday that the company will develop new features in the app to help brands with influencers, and to earn money from offering products in a marketplace, starting with Instagram.

Zuckerberg also said that the social network will open “creative shops” as part of the e-commerce initiative while speaking with Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, which is owned by Facebook, during a live video, reports US News, an American media company.

The announcements are part of Facebook’s effort to serve the “creative economy” of social media influencers, where journalists and others are making money directly from their fans on platforms like Clubhouse, Patreon, Substack and YouTube.

Zuckerberg said Facebook will create an affiliate program that will allow creators to get discounts on sales from their recommended products.

A Facebook spokesperson declined to mention how much creators will earn or the timeline for launching the features.

Mosseri said that the new marketplace that will connect creators with brands will help more users with mid-sized followers to earn money. A growing concern in the content creator economy is income inequality where the best social media personalities often make huge gains but smaller creators struggle to make a living.

“If we can help with matchmaking, we can help make more dollars for small creators who can do great work for brands,” Mosseri said.

Facebook said last month that it will allow creators to generate ad revenue from videos in as little as a minute and expand the ‘Stars’ virtual currency that people can give their favourite content creators as a tip.