Following Meta’s announcement that users could display and share their NFTs on Instagram, the functionality has been expanded to include Facebook as well.
Users can now connect their digital wallets to either or both social media platforms to share their digital collectibles. Instagram began beta-testing NFT shareability in May this year and only rolled out this feature to over 100 countries earlier this month.
This update is no small feat considering the number of active profiles on both platforms. Facebook clocks in at 2.9 billion monthly users and although Instagram’s official figures have not been released since 2018, it is thought to have over 2 billion monthly users.
Arguably, the ability to share NFTs with this vast user base will only increase the public awareness of digital collectibles and enhance their use as a mark of social status. It would also aid artists using these social media platforms, raising awareness of their work via NFTs.
However, this development is overshadowed by the NFT market’s recent downturn. With many NFTs denominated in ETH, the crash in cryptocurrency prices impacted NFTs too. However, the NFT decline has been more significant compared to a halving of Ethereum’s dollar value since this time last year.
Popular NFT marketplace, OpenSea, saw $101m in sales last week, a stark difference from $1.28bn at the same time last year, according to Dune Analytics. In contrast, the number of transactions last week was not far off last year’s level.
Giving owners more ways to show off their digital possessions is yet another step in enhancing the utility of NFTs. But with such a mass appeal, it will be interesting to see whether Meta can avoid the risk of scams that have plagued other platforms such as Discord.
