Facebook is now letting Group admins charge $4.99 to $29.99 per month for access to special sub-Groups full of exclusive posts. Parenting, cooking and “organise my home” Groups will be the first to get the chance to charge users for a subscription.
“Group admins build safe and supportive communities that people come back to every day. We all know that admins invest their time and energy to maintain their groups, and some have told us that they would like tools to help them continue to invest in their community and offer more to members,” said Alex Deve, Product Director, Groups, Facebook.
Subscription groups are created to make it easier for admins to provide these experiences with built-in tools, and to save them time so they can focus on offering members-only content. For members, they’re now able to sign-up and manage their subscription through the Facebook app for iOS and Android.
This subscription groups pilot is testing with a small number of groups across a range of interests who will share input and feedback along the way. They include Grown and Flown Parents: College Admissions and Affordability, a dedicated college preparation group with access to college counselors to help prepare parents of high schoolers for the college application process; and Meal Planning Central Premium, a meal preparation group that includes weekly meal plans, shopping lists by preferred grocery store, and more.
During the test, Facebook won’t be taking a share, but because the feature bills through iOS and Android, those operating systems get their 30 per cent cut of a user’s first year of subscription and 15 per cent after that. But, if Facebook eventually did ask for a revenue share, it could finally start to monetise the Groups feature that’s grown to more than one billion users.
