CHART: All the ways Instagram influencers can make money from the platform and how it's changed in the last year
- Instagram has launched more than 10 money-making tools for creators since 2020.
- From subscriptions to NFTs, the Meta-owned platform is testing many ways for creators to make money.
Instagram has launched more than 10 money-making features aimed at creators in the last two years.
Executives across Meta's family of apps — as high up as Mark Zuckerberg — have made it clear that they want Instagram to be seen as a place where creators can "make a living."
But as Instagram rolls out new monetization products for creators, not everything sticks around.
"I'm always a little cautious because Instagram changes all the time," Yesenia Hudson, a content creator with 40,000 Instagram followers, told Insider. "I don't know how long something is going to last."
One of Instagram's earliest monetization features was IGTV ads, a move to compete with YouTube's Partner Program (also known as AdSense) that pays creators a percentage of ad revenue on videos. IGTV ads launched in 2020 and was shut down in early 2022.
In 2021, the Meta-owned platform unveiled several more features, from a native-to-Instagram affiliate marketing program (now shuttered) to a series of "Bonuses" similar to other creator funds on competing apps like TikTok. Meanwhile, this past year has been focused on ways creators can earn money from their followers with tools like Subscriptions or Digital Collectibles (Meta's NFT feature).
Read Insider's full look at how Instagram's unpredictable changes are giving influencers whiplash.