For $3.99 each month, Instagram users can now pay for Instagram Plus, a premium subscription that allows users to share their stories for up to 48 hours, measure rewatch insights and customize the font of their profile bio.
Which, for most users, will provide a modicum of fun as they tweak what they post and check their stats. For artists, however, these new features can help them connect to their digital audience and provide further insights on who their fans are. Meta announced the new program on Thursday (June 4), with Facebook and Whatsapp also rolling out paid subscription services.
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New features among the rollout include Story spotlight, which allows for a story to be made a priority for friends; multiple story audiences, where users can create an audience list and share a story to a targeted crowd; story extend, which allows for Instagram stories to last for 48 hours, rather than the standard 24; story rewatch insights, to learn how many times someone rewatched a story; search viewer list, to check if a specific person viewed a story; a custom bio font, so the font of a profile matches the user’s aesthetic; and up to six profile pins.
Features such as multiple story audiences could prove helpful for artists, giving them the potential to connect with their biggest fans and provide content to them directly, rather than with the broader public, and allow them to segment audiences more than simply into a close friends list. Story extend could also prove helpful for album and song announcements, allowing fans more time to view them and potentially increasing engagement.
