Instagram is now the primary contact for creators

The Future. Instagram has gone through many identity changes, but the latest may be becoming the contact platform for the creator economy, where influencers and brands can easily connect and do business. Meta is capitalizing on that popularity by rolling out features that can monetize DMs, demonstrating that there may be a price for friendship.

Contact share
Who needs business cards when you have Instagram?

• According to Insider, many creators, startup founders, and brands now share their Instagram handles instead of business cards.
• Instagram has also become the de facto Rolodex or email list, with professionals using it as an easily-searchable, updated directory of everyone they’ve ever met or want to do business with.

Creator Austen Tosone called Instagram “that first impression, that community hub, that place where someone can go and in one second get a glimpse of ‘Who is this person?'”

Get the message out
The key perk of Insta as a business card is that everyone is just a quick DM away. Eric Wei, the founder of creator economy fintech startup Karat, said, “I could not do my business without Instagram DMs.”

Meta knows how important messaging has become for Instagram and is now trying to monetize in users’ DMs. It’s rolled out:

• Creator Marketplace. The ability for influencers and brands to finalize partnerships all in one place.
• Subscriptions. Paywalled group chats.
• Click-to-Message. Advertising that directs users to DM a brand.

Zuckerberg called messaging another major monetization opportunity,” which is why Meta is also pushing hard to reinvent WhatsApp as a place that will deliver revenue (and pay off its acquisition).