Mark Zuckerberg has not revealed the exact NFT capabilities Instagram upon first release, but he said during a session at South By Southwest that "over the next several months, the ability to bring some of your NFTs in, hopefully over time be able to mint things within that environment." The word “minting” is also ambiguous in this situation.

 

If the Instagram update allows users to sell a popular post as an NFT, then that capability would make it easier for brands to create NFTs and share them in digital spaces, which is important for smaller brands that lack funds, time and personnel. The capability to integrate NFTs into existing social media platforms may make NFTs more mainstream.

 

If the Instagram update allows NFTs to act as passes to let people see specific stories, then brands could expand their loyalty program to users on social media and create campaigns around that access. Brands will have to find the balance between free and exclusive content on social media.

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The NFT capability could eventually allow for the expansion of digital fashion and provide a way for consumers to instantly “dress-up” their Instagram photos with NFTs, increasing brand awareness in the digital world and offering a new market of NFTs for brands.

 

Earlier this year, Twitter introduced a feature that let users set a NFT they own as their profile picture. The NFT appears as a hexagon that allows users to click through to view the NFT’s metadata. Brands in the industry tend to focus more on the image and video platforms, but this capability has the potential to make fashion more relevant in the Twitterverse. Check out examples of NFT profile pictures on Twitter.​

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