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Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, three of the world’s largest social media brands, have recently announced plans to charge for verification — and it could have consequences for agents.
Australian users desiring the blue tick on Instagram and Facebook, the second and fifth most popular social media sites in the country, will now need to part with a $19.99 monthly fee for desktop, or $24.99 for iOS and Android, while on the fourth most popular site, Twitter, the monthly subscription fee rests just above $12.
Detailing their reasoning for the cost introduction, Meta’s (behind Facebook and Instagram) chief executive officer, Mark Zuckerberg, said the shift would assist smaller creators to “grow their presence and build community faster.”
Despite criticisms of the scheme primarily focusing on the cost of a previously free service, Mr Zuckerberg declared the feature will clean up some of the fake accounts from his services while allowing subscription holders to boast a verified badge in addition to offering access to a range of presence-building features.
So what does this mean for real estate professionals who use social media as a brand-building technique and an engagement tool?
Nic Fren, founder and CEO at Bespoke Media Group, believes the updated features present a range of positive and negative outcomes for real estate agents.
Pros:
The badge can “help users establish their legitimacy, which is especially important for businesses and public figures who want to build trust with their audience”, according to Mr Fren.
- Increased visibility and reach for verified accounts, assisting them in growing their presence and audience engagement.
- Proactive account management, a feature that can help users safeguard their accounts from hacking or unauthorised access.
- Account support access is granted as part of the subscription model, a useful tool in Mr Fren’s eyes for those needing “assistance in managing their accounts.”
Cons:
According to Mr Fren, the cost of the scheme has left many users “questioning the value of the verification badge and whether it is worth the cost.”
- “The subscription model may make the verification badge exclusive and only available to those who can afford to pay for it.” That’s a factor that could “potentially create a two-tier system on Facebook and Instagram, where verified accounts have an advantage over non-verified accounts.” Further to this point, Mr Fren said the model could potentially “discriminate against certain groups of users who cannot afford the monthly fee.”
- On the fraud front, the verification scheme may “create an incentive for fraudsters to pay for verification badges in order to appear legitimate and deceive users.” The scheme’s requirement for users to authenticate their account with government ID raises privacy concerns for individuals not willing to part with such information while also creating a “risk of ID theft and fraud if the verification process is not secure enough.”
Mr Fren issued an additional word of warning for agents, stating: “Given all the scams on social media recently, especially within the real estate industry, I’d be thinking twice before handing over any information, especially regarding government IDs.”
“Facebook has a very poor record when it comes to what they do with your data. We just have to look back at the Cambridge Analytica scandal.”
He believes the verification schemes implemented by the social media giants are “fraught with danger”, considering them a “knee-jerk reaction to try and get people to stay on the platforms and prey on the vanity that most people vie for the blue tick.”
“This is basically penalising those who don’t spend money [on] Facebook. It’s not about protecting account holders, these systems should already be in place,” he said.
“While there are potential benefits to the new feature, there are also significant risks and trade-offs that need to be carefully considered,” he concluded.
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