The social media giant has announced that it is piloting a subscription-based program that will allow group admins to charge users $4.99 to $29.99 per month for access to special sub-groups. The company says it’s doing this after feedback from some group admins that it takes them a lot of time and effort to maintain their groups:
Group admins build safe and supportive communities that people come back to every day. We know that admins invest their time and energy to maintain their groups, and some have told us that they would like tools to help them continue to invest in their community and offer more to members. Today, we’re piloting subscriptions with a small number of groups to continue to support group admins who lead these communities.
We hear from group admins that they’re looking for ways to help them earn money to deepen engagement with their members and continue to support their communities. Many admins do this today by creating an additional subscribers-only group that sits alongside their existing group, and rely on additional tools to track and collect payments. Subscription groups were created to make it easier for admins to provide these experiences with built-in tools, and to save them time so they can focus on offering members-only content.
Be aware that Facebook is only piloting this program with a small, select number of groups. Once they understand how group members feel about subscription fees, they’ll decide on whether to expand the program more widely.
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