Facebook testing subscriptions for private groups

San Francisco

Facebook will soon let group administrators charge members for providing exclusive content on its platform.

Parenting, cooking and home cleaning private groups on the social networking platform will be the first ones to access the new feature as part of a pilot programme.

"We're piloting subscriptions with a small number of groups to continue to support group admins who lead these communities," Alex Deve, Product Director, Groups at Facebook, said in a blog post on Wednesday.

Subscription groups align with the experience that Facebook made available to support video creators earlier in 2018.

Sarah Mueller started a group called "Declutter My Home" on Facebook as a way to inspire and motivate others to tidy up their apartment or house.

The group quickly became an active community for helping tens of thousands of people across the world to reduce clutter in their spaces.

"With her new subscription group, 'Organise My Home', members will be able to work together on bite-sized projects, and have access to easily actionable checklists, tutorials, live videos and more to help with home organisation," Facebook said.

"With the new 'Organize My Home' subscription group, I will be able to provide this new community with more interactive ways to having an organised home like mini-projects, group challenges, training, and live Q&A," Mueller noted.

According to a report in The Next Web, group administrators will be able to charge up to $29.99 (monthly) during the pilot.

"For now, Facebook won't be collecting a cut of the subscription fees," the report added.

For members, they are now able to sign-up and manage their subscription through the Facebook app for iOS and Android.

IANS