Meta has new plans to enter the NFT craze and it might create a marketplace in order to enable users trade digital collectibles. NFTs will continue to develop in the future, according to Meta, with more features being added to the NFT transaction mechanism to enable the transfer of a range of different kinds of digital assets across its envisioned metaverse.
Meta thinks NFTs are more than PFPs
The Financial Times notes that:
“Teams at Facebook and Instagram are readying a feature that will allow users to display their NFTs on their social media profiles, as well as working on a prototype to help users create – or mint – the collectible tokens, according to several people familiar with the matter. Two of the people said that Meta has also discussed launching a marketplace for users to buy and sell NFTs.”
As we’ve reported back in June, Instagram was developing a new feature to implement NFTs within the app according to Alessandro Paluzzi.
The next step in this procedure is to tie a digital wallet to your account, much as you would on OpenSea or other NFT transaction platforms, so the development appears to be quite advanced in this regard. If Instagram gets a feature like this, Facebook will much likely follow.
Let's see a short video showing the flow to place a bid for an #NFT collectible on #Instagram 👀 pic.twitter.com/o2WyYOMXBk
— Alessandro Paluzzi (@alex193a) July 6, 2021
But, how will this approach be integrated into Meta’s bigger metaverse aspirations, as well as digital goods sales, beyond simply profile photos (PFPs)? That’s just the beginning, and there’ll certainly be more value in investing in other digital goods and services at a later point of connection.
Meta might create an NFT marketplace
In total, PFPs do not provide much utility, and they will most likely not remain the main priority for digital ownership. Many of these initiatives amusingly claim to be “metaverse ready,” which is impossible because the schemas and parameters that would allow cross-platform transfers and usage of digital goods in the wider environment have not been established.
The main selling point of NFTs is that they can be used to represent virtually anything else, meaning the true value of NFTs will lie in other digital goods and items. This appears to be Meta’s major aim with its NFT push.
To put it another way, Meta’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg predicted in October that NFTs might be utilized to create a new market for digital items in the metaverse rather than only profile photos and Vishal Shah, CEO of Meta’s Head of Metaverse Products, said that the underlying NFT transaction process will eventually make selling digital goods in apps easier.
PFPs are only the beginning of what digital stuff may accomplish in the future, and with Meta continuing to develop its own cryptocurrency, it appears feasible that eventually, NFT technology will be able to facilitate broader digital transactions.
In the long run, NFTs will have more practical and varied usage. That is why Meta is considering moving in to take advantage of the early enthusiasm.
