Key takeaways:
- Leading photo-sharing platform Instagram is gearing up for the launch of NFT features
- Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg first announced NFTs are coming to Instagram in March
- The CEO revealed in an interview with Impact Theory’s Tom Bilyeu that NFTs are soon coming to Facebook as well
Instagram set to trial NFT features
Speaking to the co-founder and host of Impact Theory, Tom Bilyeu, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg unveiled the social media giant will trial NFT functionality on Instagram this week. The news comes roughly two months after the tech billionaire first announced that NFTs are coming to Instagram at this year’s SXSW conference in March.
At the time, Zuckerberg hinted that native Instagram NFT minting might be in the pipeline. It is worth noting that the CEO was relatively restrained when discussing the minting functionality, saying only that the feature is “hopefully” coming “over time.”
According to Zuckerberg, during the trial phase, “creators and collectors” will be able to “display their NFTs on their profile.” He added that “similar functionality” will make its way to Facebook in the near term. Moreover, users can expect augmented reality NFTs to launch on Instagram Stories.
The social media giant, which renamed to Meta last year to showcase its commitment to the metaverse and Web3 space in general, is just one of the major social media companies looking to expand their selection of products and services with blockchain solutions. Earlier this year, Youtube CEO Susan Wojnicki stated the streaming platform is looking to incorporate NFTs as a new monetization mechanic. Reddit and Twitter have also announced deeper integration with crypto and NFTs in recent months.
The NFT market experienced meteoric growth in 2021 – according to a study done by market research firm L’Atelier, the NFT market reached $17.6 billion in trading volume in 2021, up from $82 million in the year prior. This year started on a similarly bullish note, with the world’s largest NFT marketplace OpenSea having its best month to date in January, reaching a record number of NFTs sold, transaction volume, and generated fee.
