Instagram announced on Monday that it launched a reward program, with 25 creators who should receive a gold ring next week. The company claims that the new award program will recognize creators around the world who change culture and break barriers.
The Committee of Judges of the New Prize program includes Instagram chief Adam Mosseri, director Spike Lee, designer Marc Jacobs, YouTuber Brownlee Marques, actress Yara Shadhi, makeup artist Pat McGrath, etc.
The winners will receive a personalized physical ring designed by the English fashion designer Grace Wales Bonner, as well as a digital golden ring around their Instagram profile. They will also be able to design a personalized “like” button that appears when it likes flow posts. In particular, winners will not receive any kind of monetary price.
This decision comes as Meta has reduced its creators’ payment programs in recent years. Earlier this year, Meta closed a program that paid the creators for the advertisements placed in their profiles. In 2023, the company ceased to offer bonuses to the creators wrapped on Instagram and Facebook. The company also closed its affiliate marketing premiums in 2022.
The launch of the new award program also occurs while creators saw a 52% decrease in brand agreements in 2024, according to a Kajabi survey. In addition, Bank of America said last year that, with a slowdown in sponsored partnerships, there is competition in space, because more paid partnerships are concentrated among the best creators.
Given these recent changes, it is interesting to see Instagram launching a symbolic reward program which offers no monetary compensation to recipients. Instead, he focuses on the creation of a reward program which is supposed to look like the Oscars for content creators (without real ceremony).
The company declared in a blog post that the prize is to celebrate those who are not afraid to have a creative chances and to do so. Those who bring people together for their creativity and deserve recognition. “”
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The winners will be announced on October 16.
