Sponsorships
Announced in a news post today, Facebook said it is working with creators to understand what they need to be successful. After launching its dedicated Creators app last year, the company is now following up with additional capabilities. Facebook’s focusing on helping creators to build and maintain communities while generating enough revenue to support their operations.
One of the new features allows fans to directly support their favourite creators. In a similar fashion to crowd sponsorship platform Patreon, Facebook will allow users to make monthly payments to video authors they enjoy. In return, creators will be able to issue fans with exclusive content releases and sponsorship badges to show their appreciation for the support.
According to TechCrunch, Facebook will charge users $4.99 per month to sponsor creators on its platform. The company will not be taking any cut of the proceeds itself while the service is still in testing. This will leave creators with around $3.50 in monthly income from each sponsor, after Apple and Google have taken their 30% app store shares.
Encouraging engagement
Facebook’s also testing new ways to encourage continued fan engagement. It’s rolling out a leaderboard tool that will highlight a creator’s most active fans. Highly engaged fans will receive a badge next to their name. The leaderboard is intended to foster community by rewarding fan participation. Engagement will be judged based on how often fans like, comment and share the creator’s content.
The features indicate how seriously Facebook is approaching its fledgling creator communities. While it’s yet to have a significant impact on services such as YouTube or Twitch, the company is keen to be seen as an alternative to these platforms.
Facebook’s betting that its enormous reach will allow creators to reach new users by connecting to viewers through existing friend networks. The company said it wants creators to be able to “build a business” on Facebook, a message which could suggest it’s targeting creators who are feeling increasingly threatened by YouTube’s monetisation changes.
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“We’ve been working closely with creators to understand what they need to be successful on Facebook. To support them, we’re focused on three areas: helping them engage and grow their community, manage their presence, and build a business on Facebook,” said Facebook. “We’re already investing deeply in these areas — like with the Facebook Creator app and Facebook for Creators site we introduced last year.”
The new creator tools and features are currently considered experimental. Facebook is testing them with a small group of pilot testers who receive early access to upcoming features. Creators in the group have a direct contact to the Facebook team so they can communicate feedback and report problems. The company expects to publicly launch the capabilities “in the coming months.”
