NFTs seem to be infiltrating every facet of online life, and it seems few, if any, platforms will be free from their presence. Instagram certainly won’t be, with Facebook/Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg (via Engadget) confirming that NFTs would be coming to the social platform “over the next several months.”
Zuckerberg announced the news during a session at South by Southwest, saying that Instagram users will have “the ability to bring some of your NFTs in, hopefully over time be able to mint things within that environment.”
It sounds as if Instagram will start by offering some support for integrating previously purchased NFTs in some form. Presumably it would work in much the same way as Twitter's plans to let NFT owners display their purchases as a special hexagonal profile picture, but as yet there are no specific details about Instagram's approach.
This isn’t the first we’ve heard about Meta’s plans for NFT integration on its platforms, either. Back in January, a Financial Times report claimed that both Facebook and Instagram were working on integrating NFTs into their respective platforms.
That report claimed that it would be possible to mint NFTs in each platform, and to use NFTs as profile pictures. It was also suggested that discussions were happening about creating an NFT marketplace — no doubt to try to capitalize on NFTs’ newfound popularity.
Zuckerberg reportedly teased the possibility of future integration with the metaverse, too, stating that it might be possible to mint your avatar’s clothing as an NFT and take “it between different places.”
Facebook/Meta is desperate to make the metaverse, and the transition into virtual reality spaces, the next big thing, so it's hardly surprising that it would explore every possible avenue to encourage people to come onboard — including digital clothing that you “own.”
Don't get too excited about this happening soon, though: Zuckerberg apparently admitted that it would be a while before NFTs would come to Instagram, and was quoted as saying that there are "a bunch of technical things that need to get worked out before that'll really be seamless to happen."
Still, it seems inevitable that NFTs will arrive on Instagram (and possibly Facebook too) before long — so watch this space.
