Instagram starts testing NFT

“We’re building NFT, not just in our virtual reality and metaverse lab, but across our entire app,” Zuckerberg wrote on Facebook. “We’re starting to test digital collections on Instagram so creators and collectors can display their NFTs.”

The head of Meta also promises the same feature will appear on Facebook, Messenger and Whatsapp in the near future. Users can also use augmented reality to render 3D NFTs on Instagram Stories. According to Zuckerberg, its Spark AR technology will allow “to place digital art in physical space”.

Instagram head Adam Mosseri says users can share NFTs they’ve created or purchased on feeds, messages or Stories. The company will begin testing with some accounts used in the US. Mosseri also noted the difference between the decentralized nature of Web3, NFT, Blockchain while Instagram is a centralized platform. “One of the reasons why we started testing small is that we wanted to make sure we could learn from the community,” he said.

According to Meta’s announcement, users will not have to pay any fees related to posting and sharing NFTs. In Mosseri’s post, he also teased the idea that a small group of users could trade, buy and sell NFT directly on Instagram at a certain time,

Before that, experts fear NFT can drag traditional social networks like Facebook, Twitter into new troubles related to copyright and data control. According to Alan Woodward, professor of cybersecurity at the University of Surrey (UK), the NFT market is lacking a driver. Therefore, when setting foot in this land, social networks will become the main responsible party. This is a matter of concern given the numerous copyright disputes that have taken place recently.

However, others said that it is understandable that Twitter and Meta took the risk to join the NFT, as both did not want to miss the opportunity to make money from the new technology.

NFT (non-fungible token) is a digital asset certificate based on blockchain, which is transparently assessed for legitimacy and ownership. According to NonFungible, the total value of NFT transactions in 2021 reached 17.6 billion USD, up 21.350% compared to 82.5 million USD in 2020. According to the Collins dictionary, in 2021, the frequency of using the NFT keyword has increased by 11,000% compared to the previous year and became standout word of year.

Hoai Anh