Mark Zuckerberg Says Instagram NFT is Coming

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg disclosed that Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) would be coming to Instagram “in the near term” titled “Into the Metaverse: Creators, Commerce, and Connection” during this year’s South by Southwest (SXSW) conference.  

NFTs have been at the center of media platforms and social networks, and it is a growing area of interest for some of the important industry players. 

In addition, Google announced that it plans to combine NFTs into YouTube in some shape, including a way to mint tokens from media posted on the site. 

 Zuckerberg also mentioned that users will be able to “bring some of your Instagram NFT in,” but they will also have the option to “mint things within that environment.”  

While he stressed that he expected progress in executing NFTs over “the next several months,” he did not provide a specific timeframe for launch. He described precisely how they would be enforced across Instagram’s primarily video-based social network and photo.  

“I’m not ready to announce what that’s going to be today, but over the next several months, [you’ll get] the capability to bring some of your NFTs in, and over time be able to mint things within that environment,” he said, defining the future of NFTs, on the photo-sharing platform. 

Instagram is not the first social media platform to supply its outlet with current digital assets connected to a blockchain for their essence. In January, Twitter entered NFT land, letting Twitter Blue subscribers place their Instagram NFT as profile pics.  

Zuckerberg also spoke about the metaverse and reaffirmed the company’s confidence in the concept, apart from Instagram NFT, “the future belongs to the people who accept it more than others.”  

He discussed many problems encountering the metaverse, as it is depicted as a digital world (or worlds) that creates the internet via technology, including Virtual Reality (VR) headsets, smartphones, and Augmented Reality (AR) glasses, dedicated to working, socializing, and shopping. 

One of the problems is being aware that the technology built now will be enhanced over time.  

On another note, Zuckerberg highlighted the necessity to complete avatars that people can relate to, which will define them in terms of skin color, body shape, and the inclusion of things like wheelchairs and hearing aids.  

During the event, he said that the metaverse will be the essential part of what Meta does.  

However, there’s still a long road onwards before these digital worlds become available. At Mobile World Congress in February, Zuckerberg spoke about how the metaverse will need connectivity infrastructure that can help the technology as it progresses and how it’s going to collaborate with various partners to make that happen. 

Though it didn’t come up at SXSW, Meta will also have to face the challenge of old problems in a new digital form — harassment in virtual reality.