Are people willing to pay to use social media? For years, social media has been free, but with paid verification on Twitter and Meta, the rules seem to be changing. New data shows opinions vary widely by age.

New data has shown that a substantial number of users are open to paying for social media accounts in exchange for extra privacy, security, and other benefits, with younger people being much more willing to consider paying than those over age 45.

100 is the average response for all age groups. This chart shows which groups are above average (over 100) and below average (under 100).

Data from our research partner GWI shows that 27.8% of users say they are willing to pay extra to make their social media surfing secure. This suggests that users are aware of the importance of security and privacy when it comes to their digital safety, and are willing to pay for it when subscriptions are required. Social media users aged 25 to 34 were most likely (at 24.6%) to say they’d pay for premium accounts with added safety features.

Between 13 and 28% of Internet users would pay a fee for their social media account depending on what benefits came with that payment.

Majority of internet users unlikely to pay for social media features.

Despite the roughly 1 in 4 of people willing to pay something for their social account, the vast majority of people are unwilling to pay regardless of features. We’re not surprised, who does want to pay monthly fees to use their favorite social media channels?

According to the data, 48.9% users disagree with paying for subscriptions in preference for privacy settings, while 72% of these data disagree with paying to get more exposure for their content. Regardless of the offering, most people with an opinion are unwilling to pay.

To sum it up, the research on user opinion and trends suggests that most internet users are not open to paying for social media subscriptions. Nevertheless, considering that 59% of the world’s population usages social media monthly, even a fraction of those 4.9 billion users actually opening their wallets could have enormous financial benefit to the social media platforms.

Current estimates are that only 475,000 accounts are paying $8 a month for Twitter Blue, and Meta verification is just getting started.

The fact that so many social media users are becoming aware of the importance of taking extra precautions to keep their data and identity safe and are willing to consider fees for that could be encouraging. With the right offerings and features, there could be a meaningful demand for premium social media services in the coming years.

Conclusion

Is the era of free social media coming to an end? Are users really going to pay monthly fees for their social media accounts?

We strongly believe that the social networks will always have free offerings and we believe that’s what the vast majority of people will choose. But if somewhere between 13% and 27% of users begin to pay, the financial picture for the social networks will be brighter and less reliant solely on advertising revenue.