Meta is discontinuing NFT projects to focus on other elements
In another sign that the NFT hype train has slowed to a crawl, the Meta has today announced that it is ending its NFT display projects, across both Facebook and Instagram, as it realigns its resources around new priorities.
According to Meta’s head of trade and fintech Stephane Kasriel:
“We are discontinuing digital collectibles (NFT) for now to focus on other ways to support creators, people and businesses. A big thank you to the partners who joined us on this journey and who are doing a great job in a dynamic space. Proud of the relationships we built. And look forward to supporting the many NFT creators who continue to use Instagram and Facebook to amplify their work.“
Kasriel notes that Meta will continue to develop new ways for creators to connect with fans and monetize their work, but it will instead focus on areas where the company “can make an impact at scale,” including messaging and wheels.
Meta first announced its foray into NFTs last April, at the end of the first hype cycle, led by major NFT projects including Bored Ape Yacht Club and Cryptopunks. A month later, it launched a live test of NFTs on Instagram with select American creators and collectors.
At the time, Meta talked up the monetization potential for creators through digital goods, while CEO Mark Zuckerberg also pointed to the expanded role that digital elements will play in the upcoming Metaverse shift.
NFTs, in Meta’s view, will be another cog in this development – but less than nine months later it is moving on from the project as it looks to rationalize operations and cut costs where it can.
With the broader decline in digital ad spend, Meta, like all digital platforms, has been forced to reassess its spending. The company cut 11,000 jobs last November, and reports suggest it looks set to cut the same again sometime soon, with various projects being shelved as a result of this shift.
The NFT push seems to have become another victim of this – although the wider enthusiasm around NFTs has also faded significantly, affected by the same decline in spending, along with various changes in the crypto market, such as the collapse of FTX.
Looking at the sales figures from NonFungible.com, it is clear that most of the air has now leaked out of the NFT bubble.
Which makes sense, because as many market analysts have noted, JPEGs aren’t really worth anything, and were never a long-term trend. It has become even more diluted in recent months, with NFT creators turning to AI generators to create their pieces – which really means you’re paying for someone’s skill to write a good request to DALL-E.
Like, you can just write your own – but at the same time, I recognize that there are many NFT-affiliated communities that have come together around their enthusiasm for these digital works of art.
Like any other hobby, there is a value in this element. The NFT movement ended up getting confused, in some respects, by the crypto investment aspect, and used these artworks as money to make money off of. But apart from that, there is a clear passion from certain segments about the projects themselves, and the people involved in each.
In this sense, the real value of the NFT trend was the friends people made along the way. And while I don’t see profile picture and still picture NFTs playing a significant role in the next phase of digital connectivity, they have provided some additional insight into the use case for digital goods, which will be a bigger consideration in the future.
Just not on Facebook or IG. Maybe in the metaverse there will be a new opportunity to showcase your digital artwork, but it won’t be a big focus for Instagram anytime soon.
