With the economy getting tougher around the world, more people are turning to crowd fundraising than ever before.
Perhaps that’s why Instagram is rolling out its own personal fundraising feature – in beta format at least.
Like most new features that the social media platform thinks up, this one will have to go through some testing first.
The COVID-19 pandemic is specifically cited as one of the reasons that Instagram sped up the development of this feature.
“Since January, people have raised more than $US 100 million for COVID-19 fundraisers globally across Instagram and Facebook. In the last 30 days, donations on Instagram have doubled in the US. We’ve also seen a large wave of digital activism responding to the global conversation around racial justice. From people raising money to buy medical equipment for Black Lives Matter protesters, rebuilding Black-owned small businesses affected by COVID-19 and funding educational resources related to racial justice, people are eager to mobilize around causes they care about. Now, we’re making it easier to create fundraisers directly on Instagram that benefit such personal causes.”
Fundraisers last for 30 days with the option to extend them at the end. So far, the test feature is being positively received by creators and platform users but it isn’t without its critics. Some people have pointed out that this is yet another way for scams and other nefarious activities. Nonetheless, it isn’t hard to see the business case for this given the way things are right now in the world.
You can watch a video about the new feature by clicking here.
What do you think of Instagram rolling out a GoFundMe-style fundraising feature? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
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