The NFT market has seen a major boom over the last year, and social media platforms have taken notice. In late January, both Meta and Twitter made major announcements revealing how they plan to integrate NFTs within their platforms. The news came after total NFT sales reached an all-time high of $24.9 billion in 2021, compared to $94.9 million the year prior.
It comes as no surprise that Meta plans to be heavily involved in NFTs after the company rebranded itself from Facebook to Meta last November. Meta plans to be a leader in the Metaverse space, and NFTs are a natural tie-in as they have become popular digital assets and investments for millions across the globe.
In late January, Meta announced their plans to create an NFT marketplace, similar to an OpenSea-type platform, where users can buy and sell NFTs. Meta would also integrate NFTs within Facebook and Instagram to give users the ability to create and display NFTs.
Around the same time, Twitter also made a strategic move welcoming NFTs onto their platform. Users on Twitter can now feature a verified NFT profile photo to showcase an NFT image that they own. The feature is available as part of the Twitter Blue subscription plan which costs $2.99 a month.
It has become a common practice for many users within the NFT community on Twitter to change their profile photos to an NFT image they own. Now with the verified NFT profile photo feature, users can truly verify ownership on the social space.
It was only a matter of time until social platforms integrated NFTs, and this is just the beginning. NFTs are deeply intertwined today with celebrities, pop culture, sports, and art. No one exactly knows where NFTs and the Metaverse are headed, but like the dot-com boom of the 2000s, it’s a race right now to see who can capture the most market share.
With their recent moves, Meta and Twitter are certainly on the right path to capture a piece of the pie from an industry that’s anticipated to be valued in the trillions in the future.
YAH will continue to monitor the NFT market closely as more platforms and brands enter the space in 2022. NFTs can provide brands with a whole new way to connect with consumers as well as additional revenue opportunities. Over the past few months, major brands such as Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, Adidas, and the NFL have made headlines with NFT launches of their own.