On January 27, social giant Meta announced plans to test a new subscription service aimed at unlocking enhanced AI features and exclusive productivity tools for users through a paid model. Meta stated that this premium experience will gradually roll out to Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp in the coming months. The strategy aims to keep core social functions free while using "special features" to unleash users' creativity and provide more autonomous control over sharing and connecting.

The core highlight of this subscription plan is the large-scale application of the top AI agent Manus. Previously, it was reported that Meta spent $2 billion to acquire Manus. Currently, Meta is adopting a "dual approach" integration strategy: on one hand, Manus will be deeply integrated into Meta's existing social ecosystem. It has been discovered that Instagram is testing a quick access point for Manus AI; on the other hand, Meta will continue to sell Manus as an independent subscription service to enterprise users, maintaining its professional productivity advantage in the B2B market.

Meta, Metaverse, Facebook

The short video sector will also see a transformation in the "freemium" model. Meta plans to include the AI-driven short video tool Vibes in the subscription system. Vibes allows users to create and edit short videos using AI. Since its launch last year, it has been freely available, but Meta will now tier the video creation quotas. Regular users can still use basic functions, while paying subscribers will unlock additional creation frequency and advanced editing permissions each month. This marks Meta's attempt to convert entertainment traffic into actual subscription revenue.

This move by Meta is seen as a major reshaping of the revenue model for social platforms. Long dependent on advertising revenue, Meta is trying to build a revenue curve similar to software as a service (SaaS) through "AI empowerment." By combining Manus's logical processing capabilities with Vibes's visual creative abilities, Meta hopes to establish a compound subscription value of "social + assistant + creation" for individual users, thus addressing the increasingly fierce competition in the AI market.

Market analysis suggests that Meta's subscription test is a key turning point in its AI strategy, shifting from "technology investment" to "commercial returns." As the exposure of the Manus quick access point increases, the interaction threshold between users and social AI will further decrease. If this paid model is accepted by a large user base, Meta will establish its own AI content premium moat outside of Apple and Google's ecological tax. This transition from "free social" to "AI-enhanced social" may trigger a new wave of imitation across global social platforms.