Facebook is developing a new platform that lets users have face time with their favorite celebrities or influencers – but for a fee.
The video product, called Super, features live segments where well-known hosts interact with their fans who can ask questions or take selfies, according to a report from Bloomberg.
There will be options for viewers to compensate creators by purchasing them digital gifts or paying to ‘appear’ alongside the host during the livestream.
The feature is currently being tested internally, a Facebook spokesperson told Bloomberg, and it is not clear if it will be a standalone app or part of the firm’s other platforms.
Super appears to take a page from the Cameo app, which enables users to pay for shout-outs from celebrities – and Facebook’s new innovation may be an attempt to push it out of the market.
Facebook is developing a new platform called Super that lets users have face time with their favorite celebrities or influencers – but for a fee. There will be options for viewers to compensate creators by purchasing them digital gifts or paying to ‘appear’ alongside the host during the livestream
Along with interacting with fans, creators have the opportunity to sell their own products during the livestream, according to Bloomberg.
The feature is currently being tested internally, a Facebook spokesperson told Bloomberg, but it has not yet be revealed if Super will be a standalone app or part the firm’s existing platforms.
However, it seems to pull inspiration to the already existing Cameo app that charges $5 to $300 for personalized clips with celebrities.
According to TechCrunch, Cameo completed 2,000 video requests as of this past June – making it an ideal target for Facebook.
Super appears to take a page from the Cameo app, which enables users to pay for shout-outs from celebrities – and Facebook’s new innovation may be an attempt to push it out of the market
Super is the brain child of Facebook’s New Product Experimentation team that builds standalone apps and products for the social media giant.
Facebook seems to be on a new path of making its own apps instead of buying already made ones to add to its empire.
This may be due to the legal issues the firm is facing – the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and a groups of state attorneys general sued Facebook last week for ‘anticompetitive practices.’
Such claims, if found to be true, could force the social media firm to sell off Instagram and Whatsapp.
New York Attorney General Letitia James and the other by federal regulators are also accusing Facebook of illegally acquiring its competitors in a ‘predatory’ manner in order to dominate the market.
‘For nearly a decade, Facebook has used its dominance and monopoly power to crush smaller rivals, snuff out competition, all at the expense of everyday users,’ said James.
‘Facebook targets competitors with a “buy or bury” approach: if they refuse to be bought out, Facebook tries to squeeze every bit of oxygen out of the room for these companies,’ her office said.
The coalition of 46 states, Washington DC and Guam has called on judges to rule that Facebook’s acquisition of WhatsApp and Instagram were illegal.
