Facebook has seen a rise in the number of groups formed within it and at the moment has more than one billion groups worldwide. The groups have given leeway for so many plagiarized and altered content that are utilized to scam people, as well as spread fake news to sow political polarization ("Would paying for Facebook make it better? We may be about to find out", 2019) . Only last year, Facebook C.E.O and co-founder, Mark Zuckerberg was summoned by the U.S. Senate on allegations of privacy breach. He was grilled on the alleged privacy infringement by France’s Cambridge Analytica, who had collected data to manipulate populations through paid ads ("Facebook is exploring a subscription fee", 2019) .
In light of these challenges faced by Facebook, the new feature, subscription groups, was rolled out to a few groups to test its viability and has so far proven to be promising. Group owners, in this new feature, will be allowed to earn from subscriptions for exclusive content creation on the social media platform ("Facebook to charge a subscription for Groups", 2019) . The platform will be a plus for Facebook as the rise of subscribers and groups has made the management of the platform quite difficult. On rollout of this feature, management of these groups will be decentralized and privacy of content providers and consumers within the groups upheld.
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Despite the pros that come with this feature, Facebook might be faced with the challenge of acceptance by its community since most of the research statistics show that only 1 in 5 users in North America and 1 in 10 users in the UK would be willing to subscribe ("Would paying for Facebook make it better? We may be about to find out", 2019). Moreover, out of the willing subscribers, only a fraction are actually prepared to go through with payment. Obsolescence amongst the teenagers and youth is another factor that greatly undermines the rollout, since majority of them prefer other social media platforms making realization of subscription-based groups untenable.
Nonetheless, subscription groups are set to revolutionize how social media works, as the users are given the power to choose what they may or may not want to see. This will lead to less time used in social media looking for content, as well as protection from companies that collect data from users for malicious use since once one subscribes, they receive only the relevant information paid for in the groups they choose to subscribe.
References
Would paying for Facebook make it better? We may be about to find out. (2019). Retrieved from
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-06-28/facebook-groups-trial-social-media-subscriptions/9919068
Facebook is exploring a subscription fee. (2019). Retrieved from
https://qz.com/1270435/facebook-is-exploring-a-subscription-fee-for-a-private-ad-free-version-of-the-site/
Facebook to charge a subscription for Groups. (2019). Retrieved from
https://www.news.com.au/technology/online/social/facebook-is-adding-a-new-feature-that-lets-group-admins-charge-members-a-monthly-fee/news-story/28621eacba0d2b98cf1d311d34d2eeaf
King, J. S., Lee, R., & Tuscano, V. (2014). U.S. Patent No. 8,667,075 . Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
