Instagram Tests NFT Support, Bringing More Ways For Expression Online

Video screenshot via Adam Mosseri

A little bit of Meta’s metaverse exists on Instagram right now. Long a portfolio of sorts for creators, Instagram is moving into the non-fungible token space, the seeming new frontier of art.

After confirming the major move in March, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has now announced that tests for NFTs will begin this week. Some creators and collectors in the US will be the first to give this functionality a go, and their experience will pave the way for a wider rollout across Meta’s family of apps.

“We’re starting building for NFTs not just in our metaverse and Reality Labs work, but also across our family of apps,” Zuckerberg explained in a video posted on Facebook. “We’re starting to test digital collectibles on Instagram so that creators and collectors can display their NFTs.”

Zuckerberg detailed that NFT uploads and sharing will inspire more forms of expression, enabling users to reveal more parts of themselves through crypto art.

Video screenshots via Adam Mosseri

NFTs on Instagram will appear as posts, nudging them further into the mainstream. They’ll be distinguishable by a unique “shimmer,” Gizmodo learns from a Meta spokesperson. The posts will also include attributions to both the creators and owners of the NFTs.

In this initial run, Instagram will only offer support for NFTs on the Ethereum and Polygon blockchains, though it intends to include Flow and Solana in the future.

“I’m really excited to start testing this,” Zuckerberg said. He added that Facebook will be next to support NFTs, ahead of a potential launch across Meta’s other apps. Head of Instagram Adam Mosseri noted in a separate video that creators and collectors will not be charged a fee for posting or sharing digital collectibles.

NFTs on Instagram 🎉

This week we’re beginning to test digital collectibles with a handful of US creators and collectors who will be able to share NFTs on Instagram. There will be no fees associated with posting or sharing a digital collectible on IG.

See you next week! ✌🏼 pic.twitter.com/VuJbMVSBDr

— Adam Mosseri (@mosseri) May 9, 2022

Zuckerberg also teased a new type of digital art— “augmented-reality NFTs, basically 3D NFTs”—that audiences will be able to experiment with in the future. When used on Instagram Stories, AR NFTs can be carried “into 3D space and kind of… onto physical spaces, as well,” the Meta CEO described.

[via PetaPixel and Gizmodo, video screenshots via Adam Mosseri]