Winning Bizness Desk
Mumbai.Social media giant Meta has unveiled a fresh subscription push for Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp, marking one of the company’s biggest moves towards paid digital services. The company has announced new “Plus” versions of its apps, offering users a range of premium tools, advanced controls and personalisation options for a monthly fee.
The move signals a major shift in the social media business model, where companies are now looking beyond advertising revenue to secure long-term earnings. Meta clarified that these new paid plans will run alongside its existing Meta Verified service and will not replace it. While the rollout has begun globally, the company is yet to announce a launch date for India.
India remains Meta’s biggest user market in the world, and industry observers expect the company to introduce the services here in phases, as it has done with earlier major features.
Features focused on creators and social sharing
Instagram Plus and Facebook Plus have been designed mainly for creators and users who actively share content online. The company is adding several features aimed at improving visibility, privacy and audience control.
Users subscribing to the service will get access to:
- Multiple custom friend lists instead of just one “Close Friends” group
- Story insights showing how many people rewatched a story
- Stories staying visible beyond the current 24-hour limit
- Weekly “Spotlight” option to push one story for wider reach
- Ability to secretly view others’ stories without appearing in viewer lists
Meta is also introducing search options within story viewers, allowing users to quickly identify who watched their content.
More control over profile and appearance
The paid plans will also allow users to save photos or videos directly to profiles and highlights without sending notifications to followers or creating fresh feed posts. The company says this feature is aimed at users who want quieter profile updates without disturbing their audience.
The platform is also heavily expanding visual customisation. Subscribers will receive:
- New font styles for profiles and stories
- Floating “Super Heart” reactions on screen
- Custom app icons and design themes
- More decorative profile tools and layout controls
WhatsApp Plus, meanwhile, is being positioned as a messaging-focused premium experience. Meta says the service will include advanced themes, personalised ringtones, extra pinned chats, premium stickers and customised chat organisation tools.
Meta testing premium AI subscriptions globally
Alongside social media subscriptions, Meta is also testing two paid plans for Meta AI users. The company has introduced:
- Meta One Plus at $7.99 per month (around Rs 770)
- Meta One Premium at $19.99 per month (around Rs 1,900)
Both plans will offer similar features, but the premium tier will unlock deeper reasoning capabilities and high-compute queries for advanced tasks. Meta says the service will improve AI-generated videos and image creation quality across its apps.
The company clarified that standard Meta AI access will continue to remain free for ordinary users.
Advanced plans for creators and businesses
Meta is also testing higher-end subscription packages for creators, influencers and businesses. These plans are expected to provide tools focused on growth, visibility and account management.
Meta One Essential, priced at $14.99 per month, will offer:
The company believes these tools will help businesses drive traffic towards websites, online shops and digital campaigns more effectively.
Why social media companies are changing strategy
For years, platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp remained free because user data and digital advertisements generated billions in revenue. But the global social media market is now approaching saturation, with growth in new users slowing sharply.
At the same time, tighter privacy laws across several countries have affected targeted advertising businesses. Analysts believe this has pushed companies like Meta towards subscription-based earnings, similar to the model adopted earlier by Elon Musk’s X platform.
The latest move also reflects a larger industry trend where social media companies are no longer treating premium services as optional experiments, but as a central part of their future business strategy.
