Research: How People Feel About Paying for Social Media

研究：人们如何看待为社交媒体付费

Tweet

新闻动态

Post

岗位

Share

分享

Annotate

注释

Save

保存

Get PDF

获取PDF

Buy Copies

购买副本

Print

打印

Is the era of free social media coming to an end? Across the industry, apps are starting to charge users. In June 2022, Snapchat launched its fee-based Snapchat Plus service. Twitter followed suit in November 2022 and in February 2023 Meta (Facebook and Instagram) test-marketed a subscription bundle for their services. The price points for the subscriptions currently vary from $3.99 to $14.99, with Snapchat being at the low end and the bundle of Facebook/Instagram being at the high end, ranging from $11.99 to $14.99 depending on if a user opts for a web subscription or an IOS or Android subscription. What also varies is the users’ expectations, perceived quality of features, recognition of the value offered, potential satisfaction, and the likelihood of opting in for fee-based subscription services.

免费社交媒体的时代要结束了吗？在整个行业，应用程序开始向用户收费。2022年6月，Snapchat推出了收费的Snapchat Plus服务。Twitter在2022年11月跟进，2023年2月Meta(脸书和Instagram)为他们的服务试销了一个订阅捆绑包。目前订阅的价格从3.99美元到14.99美元不等，Snapchat处于低端，脸书/Instagram捆绑包处于高端，根据用户选择网络订阅还是IOS或Android订阅，价格从11.99美元到14.99美元不等。变化的还有用户的期望、感知的特性质量、对所提供价值的认可、潜在的满意度以及选择付费订阅服务的可能性。

The main benefit of the pay-for-subscription model across these social media apps has been strategically portrayed by the companies behind them as verification and authentication of users to alleviate concerns over bots and disinformation. The goal seems to be to give the social media community a more robust foundation to distinguish between information and disinformation while protecting free speech and an open flow of ideas. Mark Zuckerberg described Meta Verified (bundling Facebook and Instagram) as a “subscription service that lets you verify your account with a government ID, get a blue badge, get extra impersonation protection against accounts claiming to be you, and get direct access to customer support.” Elon Musk views Twitter Blue not only as a verification of users but also as another vehicle for revenue, diversifying revenue generation from the current 90% derived from advertising. Meanwhile, Snapchat’s subscription service focuses mainly on delivering exclusive and experimental features to its most passionate users.

这些社交媒体应用的付费订阅模式的主要优势被其背后的公司战略性地描述为用户的验证和认证，以减轻对机器人和虚假信息的担忧。目标似乎是给社交媒体社区一个更强大的基础，以区分信息和虚假信息，同时保护言论自由和思想的开放流动。马克·扎克伯格(Mark Zuckerberg)将Meta Verified(捆绑脸书和Instagram)描述为“订阅服务，让你用政府ID验证你的账户，获得蓝色徽章，获得额外的假冒保护，防止账户声称是你，并直接获得客户支持。”埃隆·马斯克(Elon Musk)认为Twitter Blue不仅是对用户的验证，也是另一种创收手段，使目前90%来自广告的收入多元化。与此同时，Snapchat的订阅服务主要专注于向最热情的用户提供独家和实验性的功能。

Regardless of intent, users are now faced with subscription fees to social media apps that they have become accustomed to using for free. That begs the question: What do users expect from Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat in the newly reconstructed social media ecosystem that is anchored by subscription fees? And based on early announced features, how do users perceive the quality and price? Perhaps most importantly, how close are these new features to the “ideal” that users want and how likely are users to opt-in for the new subscription services from Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat?

无论意图如何，用户现在都面临着他们已经习惯免费使用的社交媒体应用程序的订阅费。这就引出了一个问题:在由订阅费支撑的新重建的社交媒体生态系统中，用户对Twitter、脸书、Instagram和Snapchat有什么期待？基于早期公布的功能，用户如何看待质量和价格？或许最重要的是，这些新功能与用户想要的“理想”有多接近，用户选择加入Twitter、脸书、Instagram和Snapchat的新订阅服务的可能性有多大？

What users expect depends on the social media platform(s) they are engaging with and the unique features those platforms offer.

用户的期望取决于他们正在使用的社交媒体平台以及这些平台提供的独特功能。

Instagram’s users include influencers, artists, and brands, and the app has become a popular platform for teens and adults under the age of 40. Facebook’s users include almost three-quarters of adults, for example, in the United States, and the 40+ generations seem to become more active on the app the older they get. The majority of Twitter’s users are between 35 and 65 years old who communicate news items, digest bite-sized content, and want to connect in real-time. Snapchat’s users are mainly in the 18 to 29 age group, with the majority being women, partaking in billions of video views daily.

Instagram的用户包括有影响力的人、艺术家和品牌，该应用程序已成为40岁以下青少年和成年人的流行平台。Facebook的用户包括近四分之三的成年人，例如，在美国，40岁以上的人似乎在年龄越大的应用程序上变得越活跃。Twitter的大多数用户年龄在35岁到65岁之间，他们交流新闻，消化一口大小的内容，并希望实时连接。Snapchat的用户主要在18至29岁的年龄段，其中大多数是女性，每天观看数十亿次视频。

For each of Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat, we asked users: Based on your previous experiences with Twitter/Facebook/Instagram/Snapchat’s free services, how would you rate your expectations of the overall quality of the new paid user subscription services? The 10-point scoring options were 1=“not very high” to 10=“very high,” and we had 1,056 respondents.

对于Twitter、Facebook、Instagram和Snapchat，我们询问用户：根据您之前使用Twitter/Facebook/Instagram/Snapchat免费服务的经验，您对新的付费用户订阅服务的整体质量的期望如何？10分的评分选项是1=“不是很高”到10=“很高”，我们有1,056名受访者。

The averaged expectations for the four platforms ranged from 7.25 to 7.38, with Instagram users’ being the most optimistic. Younger users (< 35 years), college-educated users, and politically conservative users each have higher expectations; perceive higher quality, value, and potential satisfaction; and are the most likely to purchase the subscription services. Males have high expectations of Twitter, Facebook, and Snapchat’s fee-based services while both genders expect about the same from Instagram. The expectations based on income groups are only significantly different for Instagram (higher-income users expect more).

四个平台的平均预期从7.25到7.38不等，Instagram用户最乐观。年轻用户(< 35岁)、受过大学教育的用户和政治保守的用户各自有更高的期望；感知更高的质量、价值和潜在的满意度；并且最有可能购买订阅服务。男性对Twitter、脸书和Snapchat的收费服务抱有很高的期望，而男性和女性对Instagram的期望大致相同。基于收入群体的预期只有Instagram有显著差异(高收入用户预期更多)。

As with any brand, the features offered by Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and others as a part of the pay-for-subscription services are most likely evolving. Elon Musk has changed, halted, and relaunched the Twitter Blue service almost weekly since Twitter’s initial launch in November 2022. At this time, Twitter focuses on user verification, fewer ads, priority in replies mentions, and the ability to post longer videos as the core offering for the subscription services. Meta (Facebook and Instagram) has opted to feature user verification, protection against impersonation attacks, direct access to customer support, and increased visibility and reach. Snapchat has included user verification, changing the app icon, and seeing who rewatched a user’s story.

与任何品牌一样，Twitter、脸书、Instagram、Snapchat和其他公司作为付费订阅服务的一部分所提供的功能很可能正在演变。自Twitter于2022年11月首次推出以来，埃隆·马斯克(Elon Musk)几乎每周都会改变、停止和重新推出Twitter Blue服务。目前，Twitter专注于用户验证、更少的广告、回复提及的优先级以及发布更长视频的能力，作为订阅服务的核心产品。Meta(脸书和Instagram)选择了用户验证、防止假冒攻击、直接获得客户支持以及增加可见性和覆盖范围等功能。Snapchat包括用户验证、更改应用程序图标，以及查看谁重新观看了用户的故事。

The key targeting approach for Twitter, Meta, and Snapchat centers on the user’s requirements. Identifying these focus areas and features for each app, we asked users: How well does Twitter/Facebook/Instagram/Snapchat’s paid user subscription service meet your personal requirements? The answers were more narrowly oriented, on average, than for the users’ expectations — ranging from a low for Facebook of 7.31 and a high for Instagram of 7.41 (1=not very well to 10=very well). However, we found very significant differences between users with less than a college education versus those with at least a college education: College-educated users perceived the features across all four apps to be of much higher quality. Likewise, users with conservative political views perceived the features across all four apps to be of much higher quality.

Twitter、Meta和Snapchat的关键定位方法以用户需求为中心。确定了每个应用的这些重点领域和功能后，我们问用户:Twitter/脸书/Instagram/Snapchat的付费用户订阅服务在多大程度上满足了你的个人需求？平均而言，答案比用户的预期更加狭隘——从脸书的7.31分低到Instagram的7.41分高(1 =不太好到10 =很好)。然而，我们发现大学以下学历的用户与至少受过大学教育的用户之间存在非常显著的差异:受过大学教育的用户认为所有四款应用的功能质量都要高得多。同样，持保守政治观点的用户认为所有四款应用的功能质量都要高得多。

The price for subscription-based social media services is a function of the quality a user perceives to be receiving in return for the money they spend. The price-to-quality ratio is defined as the value perceived by the user. Snapchat launched the subscription service first among the social media apps we examined, and they also charge the lowest amount at $3.99 per month. Twitter has currently settled on a price of $8.00. Meanwhile, Meta went to market in Australia and New Zealand with a price of $11.99 for a web subscription and $14.99 for an IOS or Android subscription.

基于订阅的社交媒体服务的价格是用户认为他们所花的钱所获得的质量的函数。价格质量比被定义为用户感知的价值。Snapchat在我们调查的社交媒体应用程序中首先推出了订阅服务，他们的收费也是最低的，每月3.99美元。Twitter目前的定价为8美元。与此同时，Meta在澳大利亚和新西兰上市，网络订阅价格为11.99美元，iOS或Android订阅价格为14.99美元。

We asked the users about these prices given the quality they receive if opting in for a subscription: Given the quality of Twitter/Facebook/Instagram/Meta/Snapchat’s user subscription service, how would you rate the price of the paid user subscription services? We included Meta in this value category also in addition to the four apps independently since Meta is bundling the price for Facebook and Instagram. Interestingly, at this early stage, neither the Meta bundling (score=7.25) nor the independent views of Facebook (7.23) and Instagram (7.28) can match up to the perceived value users think they get from Twitter (7.37) and Snapchat (7.38). We again used a 10-point scale anchored this time by 1=very poor price given the quality to 10=very good price given the quality. Consistently across all apps and the FB/IG bundle, college-educated, conservative, younger, male, and high-income users each perceive greater potential value from the fee-based subscriptions.

我们向用户询问了这些价格，因为如果选择订阅，他们将获得质量：考虑到Twitter/Facebook/Instagram/Meta/Snapchat的用户订阅服务的质量，您如何评价付费用户订阅服务的价格？除了四个独立的应用程序之外，我们还将Meta纳入了这个价值类别，因为Meta正在捆绑Facebook和Instagram的价格。有趣的是，在这个早期阶段，无论是Meta捆绑（得分=7.25）还是Facebook（7.23）和Instagram（7.28）的独立观点都无法与用户认为他们从Twitter（7.37）和Snapchat（7.38）获得的感知价值相匹配。我们再次使用了10分制，这次是1=质量非常差的价格，10=质量非常好的价格。在所有应用程序和FB/IG捆绑包中，受过大学教育的、保守的、年轻的、男性和高收入用户都从付费订阅中感受到了更大的潜在价值。

A myriad of social media apps exist in the marketplace today, and more are popping up almost daily. This presents a challenge for both current and potential users to figure out which platforms best fit their needs and wants. Normally at the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), we measure customer satisfaction using three questions that are then weighted and indexed. However, given the newness of the pay-for-subscription services by Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and even Snapchat, we opted to use the one question from our patented technical modeling: Imagine an ideal social media service. How well do you think Twitter/Facebook/Instagram/Snapchat’s paid user subscription service compares with that ideal? The scoring ranged from 1=not very close to the ideal to 10=very close to the ideal.

如今，市场上有无数的社交媒体应用，而且几乎每天都有更多的应用涌现出来。这对当前和潜在用户都提出了一个挑战，即找出哪些平台最适合他们的需求。通常在美国客户满意度指数(ACSI)中，我们使用三个问题来衡量客户满意度，然后对这些问题进行加权和指数化。然而，考虑到Twitter、脸书、Instagram甚至Snapchat的付费订阅服务的新颖性，我们选择使用我们的专利技术建模中的一个问题:想象一个理想的社交媒体服务。你认为Twitter/脸书/Instagram/Snapchat的付费用户订阅服务与这个理想相比有多好？评分范围从1 =不太接近理想到10 =非常接近理想

The respondents are so far more satisfied with Instagram’s (score=7.42) and Snapchat’s (7.41) announced pay-for-subscription services (i.e., the features described earlier) than they are the features offered by Facebook (7.32) and Twitter (7.35). This is interesting given that Meta has announced virtually the same features for the paid services of Facebook and Instagram. Given that Facebook has evolved to appeal to older users and Instagram maintains, on average, a younger user, having universal features for the subscription fee across Meta’s social media platforms may be ill-advised. Consistently across all apps, college-educated, conservative, younger, male, and high-income users each perceive a closer fit to the ideal social media fee-based service they want. These results correspond qualitatively to the results for perceived value.

相比脸书(7.32分)和推特(7.35分)，受访者对insta gram(7.42分)和Snapchat(7.41分)宣布的付费订阅服务(即之前描述的功能)更满意。这很有趣，因为Meta已经宣布为脸书和Instagram的付费服务提供几乎相同的功能。鉴于脸书已经发展到吸引老年用户，Instagram平均保持年轻用户，在Meta的社交媒体平台上提供订阅费的通用功能可能是不明智的。在所有应用中，受过大学教育、保守、年轻、男性和高收入用户都认为自己更适合他们想要的理想社交媒体收费服务。这些结果在质量上与感知价值的结果一致

Perhaps the most important aspect of our nationwide survey of social media users is the likelihood that users subscribe to the new fee-based services. The free options stay, albeit Twitter and Meta (Facebook and Instagram) have aggressively stressed the verification and authenticity features of the pay-for-service as a way to motivate users to convert to Twitter Blue and Facebook/Instagram Blue Badge in particular. We asked: Compared with Twitter/Facebook/Instagram/Snapchat’s free but unverified service, and based on what you know so far, how likely is it that you would opt to buy the paid user subscription service?

也许我们对社交媒体用户进行的全国性调查中最重要的方面是用户订阅新的收费服务的可能性。免费选项仍然存在，尽管Twitter和Meta（Facebook和Instagram）积极强调付费服务的验证和真实性功能，以激励用户转换为Twitter Blue和Facebook/Instagram Blue Badge。我们问：与Twitter/Facebook/Instagram/Snapchat的免费但未经验证的服务相比，根据您目前所了解的情况，您选择购买付费用户订阅服务的可能性有多大？

The respondents answered in significant rank order, with Snapchat receiving the highest score (7.27) followed by Instagram (7.21), Facebook (7.16), and Twitter (7.14). The scale for this loyalty question (or more precisely, in this case, purchase intent question) ranged from 1=“very unlikely” to 10=“very likely.” Very significantly, college-educated users are much more likely to at least try the fee-based services across the board (average=7.41 compared with users with less than a college education, score=5.85). Conservatives are also much more likely to subscribe (7.56) than liberals (6.68). Younger, male, and high-income users also favor subscriptions more but not as significantly as college-educated and conservative users.

受访者的回答按重要的排名顺序排列，Snapchat得分最高（7.27），其次是Instagram（7.21），Facebook（7.16）和Twitter（7.14）。这个忠诚度问题（或者更准确地说，在这种情况下，购买意向问题）的范围从1=“非常不可能”到10=“非常可能”。非常重要的是，受过大学教育的用户更有可能至少尝试全面的收费服务（平均值=7.41，而受过大学教育的用户得分=5.85）。保守派也比自由派（6.68）更有可能订阅（7.56）。年轻、男性和高收入用户也更喜欢订阅，但不像受过大学教育和保守的用户那样明显。

Instagram is the social media service that has the highest expectations among users for its subscription service, with accompanying high perceived quality and high user satisfaction (Instagram’s customer satisfaction is about the same as it is for Snapchat). Twitter and Snapchat lead in terms of the perceived value that their subscription services offer at this early stage of rolling them out in the marketplace. Snapchat has the most loyal potential pay-for-service users in that they are the most likely to adopt the Snapchat Plus service (which has also been available longer and at a lower price than subscriptions from Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram). Younger social media users (< 35 years), college-educated users, and politically conservative users each have higher expectations; perceive a higher quality, value, and potential satisfaction; and are the most likely to purchase subscription services to Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat.

Instagram是用户对其订阅服务期望最高的社交媒体服务，伴随着高感知质量和高用户满意度(Instagram的客户满意度与Snapchat大致相同)。Twitter和Snapchat在将订阅服务推向市场的早期阶段，在感知价值方面处于领先地位。Snapchat拥有最忠诚的潜在付费服务用户，因为他们最有可能采用Snapchat Plus服务(该服务比Twitter、脸书和Instagram的订阅服务时间更长，价格更低)。更年轻的社交媒体用户(< 35岁)、受过大学教育的用户和政治保守的用户各自有更高的期望；感知更高的质量、价值和潜在的满足感；并且最有可能购买Twitter、脸书、Instagram和Snapchat的订阅服务。

While in several cases we identified differences, the potential variations in opinions between 1) low- and high-income groups and 2) males and females are smaller and less practically significant than for age, education, and income differences based on our nationwide U.S. sample on n=1,056 users (with less than 3% margin of error). Overall, Instagram appears to have adopted the best features and user focus for fee-based subscription services, whereas Meta’s other service (Facebook) along with Twitter and Snapchat have a strategic realignment of quality features and target market focus that possibly needs to be done.

虽然在一些情况下，我们发现了差异，但1）低收入和高收入群体之间以及2）男性和女性之间的潜在意见差异小于年龄，教育程度和收入差异的实际意义，基于我们的全国性美国样本n= 1，056用户（误差幅度小于3%）。总体而言，Instagram似乎已经采用了收费订阅服务的最佳功能和用户关注点，而Meta的其他服务（Facebook）以及Twitter和Snapchat可能需要对质量功能和目标市场重点进行战略调整。