On January 26, Meta announced that it was going to test premium subscriptions across its apps. The subscriptions will offer exclusive features and expanded AI tools, while ad-supported versions remain free.
Under the test, users are presented with a clear choice between two paths. People can subscribe to use Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp without ads, or continue using the services for free while agreeing to ongoing data use for advertising purposes.
Meta claims the subscriptions will “unlock productivity, creativity, and AI-powered features,” with each app receiving its own set of paid tools rather than a single bundled plan. The company isn’t committing to one configuration and plans in order to experiment with different feature sets and pricing models over time.
users are presented with a clear choice between two paths
There is a third path. Just stop being a user. Maybe that choice isn’t clear enough. Push notifications are fucking evil. I removed the app and use FB as a PWA about once every six months. I might use it more if it had content from my friends or anyone I gave a fuck about, but instead it’s all promotions and suggestions.
Without the little red number creating FOMO on my phone, I have no impulse to check it. Yet I check Lemmy several times a day. I check Bluesky every couple of days. Because every time I open them, someone I want to hear from is posting something I want to see. You should try that, Zuck.
I haven’t touched a facebook product in almost 15 years and my life has been nothing but better for it.
Shit yeah that’s about how long for me. Gods, I remember talking about how cool and futuristic Facebook was back in like 08, but in my defense I was a middle schooler. I rapidly saw it morph into a hub of unpleasantness and bailed.
A premium tier for WhatsApp? The app I want to get rid of but can’t because employers can’t be assed to send emails or make phone calls first?
What kind of shitass employer would require the use of WhatsApp? Do they make you use TikTok to clock in?
A huge portion of Europe runs on WhatsApp. And many places use it as their primary communication for customers.
All the employers where I am. Heck, they have some group chat “newsletters” and such set up to let us know of updates and things. Sometimes it’ll be used for informal group chats where things aren’t really binding, and reserve email for official communications.
Honestly, if this reduces user-hostile UI changes for paid accounts, and I can get a chronological feed of just friend activity with original content, I’d pay it at this point.
(I know there is supposed to be a friends-only feed now, but it’s not even close to being friends-only still.)
It’s a big if, and I don’t think it will be what I want, but I’m just putting it out there that I would pay if the experience is valuable enough.
Seriously? You’re gonna pay money to this guy?
I mean, do I want to give money to a billionaire? Not exactly.
On the other hand, if we don’t start supporting premium software services and open source projects, the enshitiffication trend will get worse.
(I know Facebook isn’t open source, but I’ve seen enough open source projects abandoned or enshittified due to lack of support from users.)
I have to choose among my principles, and I’m strongly against user-hostile UI/UX paradigms, enshittification, and other downward quality trends in software/services.
I pay to support my Lemmy instance, for example.
They’re actively doing enshittifying, though. How are they supposed to know what you’re rewarding them for?
Do people still use Meta’s products?
Instagram and WhatsApp… So hard to get people to stop. Particularly where smaller countries and people who travel are, where WhatsApp is the default phone.
So shitty.
