In a video posted to Zuckerberg’s Facebook and Instagram accounts, the social media patriarch is seen talking with entrepreneur and prominent NFT influencer Tom Bilyeu about “digital collectibles” coming to Instagram. “This week we’re starting to test digital collectibles on Instagram so creators and collectors can display their NFTs on their profile,” Zuckerberg wrote in the caption of his post. “Similar functionality is coming to Facebook soon, along with augmented reality NFTs on Instagram Stories via Spark AR so you can place digital art into physical spaces,” he said in the video.
Instagram head Adam Mosseri said that a small group of US users will have the ability to display NFTs on their feed, stories, and in messages. NFT details are displayed in a similar way to tagged profiles and products and are named “digital collectibles.” Clicking on the tag will display details like the name of the creator and owner.
Mosseri said the test is small to start so that Instagram can learn from the community. Perhaps in an attempt to tackle distrust of a major social networking platform jumping into NFTs, he brings up a tension between large companies like Instagram and the decentralized ethos of Web3.
“I want to acknowledge upfront that NFTs and blockchain technologies and Web3 more broadly are all about distributing trust, distributing power,” Mosseri says. “But Instagram is fundamentally a centralized platform, so there’s a tension there.”
What’s this all mean?
In short, soon, Instagram users will be able to display NFTs via their profiles in Meta’s continuing efforts to expand the possibilities of self-expression across social media and the metaverse.
To begin with, creators and collectors in a set test group will be able to post NFTs that they created or own by linking third-party digital wallets in-app. Compatible wallets currently include Rainbow, MetaMask, and Trust Wallet. Support for Coinbase, Dapper, and Phantom will soon follow. The blockchains that are supported at launch include Ethereum and Polygon. Flow and Solana will be added further down the road. This multichain approach will surely entice a wide variety of NFT enthusiasts to utilize Instagram’s forthcoming NFT tools, possibly even those worried about the environmental implications of NFTs, as several chains have far lower energy costs than Ethereum.
NFTs displayed on the app will also receive a special ‘shimmer’ visual treatment, and both the creator and owner of the NFT will be attributed for the content. Press materials sent by Meta’s communications team also offered some insights into how Instagram’s NFT features will look.
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