Facebook to pay content creators $1B through 2022

In a time when content creation has become quite popular among creators and their audience, hosting platforms like YouTube have rewarded creators with cash. After years of calling out Facebook to do the same, the social media giant has finally responded to the calls.

The social media giant CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Wednesday said the company will pay out $1 billion through 2022 to content creators on its Facebook and Instagram platforms. The company hopes to attract more influencers on its social media networks through this strategy as it ups its competition with similar services.

“We want to build the best platforms for millions of creators to make a living, so we’re creating new programs to invest over $1 billion to reward creators for great content they create on Facebook and Instagram through 2022,” Zuckerberg wrote in a Facebook post. “Investing in creators isn’t new for us, but I’m excited to expand this work over time.”

The company also plans to launch new programs between now and the end of the year as part of the initiative. The bonus programs will pay out content creators if they hit specific milestones. Among the new bonus programs is the Reels Summer Bonus set to launch in the coming weeks. U.S. creators who create Reels content for Instagram will get paid. Reels is a short-length video creator and editor that was launched on Instagram in 2020 to compete with short-video platform TikTok.

Facebook added that it will launch dedicated spaces within its Facebook and Instagram apps where creators can enter to learn more about the bonus programs and the rewards. It plans to provide creators with seed funding to help cover the cost for content production across Facebook’s platforms. The bonus programs will start on an invitation-only basis, the company said, without providing complete details on the timing or eligibility. 

The social media giant has launched many initiatives over the past few months to financially reward its creators as a strategy to attract more social media influencers to its networks. In June, Facebook announced that it would not take a cut of creators’ generated revenue on paid online events, badges, fan subscriptions, and the company’s upcoming independent news product until at least 2023. 

Talented creatives have turned the online space into their personal studios. These days, it takes lesser efforts to become popular overnight thanks to content creation and growing trends. These creators have become a crucial part of the social networking ecosystem in recent years, helping social networking platforms grow in popularity.

“Our goal is to help as many creators as possible find sustainable, long-term success on our apps,” Facebook said in a statement. It added that the goal in all of this is to make its platforms the best place for millions of content creators to make a living.