Tech giant, Meta, has included Nigeria in its list of countries that are eligible for monetization on its flagship social media platform, Facebook.
This means that content creators in Nigeria can now earn money from ad revenue as Meta has fulfilled its promise of making the country eligible for monetization.
Recall that in May, Meta had promised that it would allow Facebook monetization in Nigeria by June, adding that Instagram would also be made available for monetization in the country.
This was preceded by a meeting between Nigerian president, Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Meta’s President of Global Affairs, Sir Nick Clegg, who reportedly visited Nigeria in March and thereafter made the announcement.
According to Clegg, “monetisation won’t be limited to just Instagram. Nigerian creators eligible to use our monetisation products will be able to also monetise on Facebook as well.”
The tech giant’s executive also said, “we’re working diligently to make these monetisation features available for Nigerian creators in June and our team is dedicated to a swift rollout.”
Similarly, a statement issued by the presidential spokesperson to President Tinubu, Ajuri Ngelale, shortly after the Nigerian president’s meeting with Meta’s president of Global Affairs, read in part: “Sir Clegg also said Meta will introduce in June 2024 a feature on its Instagram app that will allow Nigerian creators to monetize their content to enable them to earn a living using the app.”
In what has been described as a fulfilment of its promise, the Facebook’s parent company ticked Nigeria blue in the professional dashboard on Thursday, June 27, 2024.
Before now, content creators with Nigerian addresses were not eligible for Facebook monetisation unless they had a page management based in an eligible country. But following the latest development, content creators in Nigeria can now monetize their content and earn money through Facebook in-stream ads, live ads, ads on reels, bonuses and subscriptions.
The latest development has raised reactions from Nigerians across various social classes with a majority expressing their joy over the inclusion.
Just as Meta’s executive noted, many Nigerians are optimistic that with the country’s inclusion into the list of eligible countries for Facebook monetization, they could earn a living from the platform.
However, experts have also raised a number of concerns about Facebook’s strict monetization policies while urging Nigerian content creators not to expect too much from the platform in order not to be disappointed.
Content creators in Nigeria have also been urged to work hard by creating original contents or risk making no financial gains from the social media platform. This is because according to Facebook content monetization policies, reposted contents would not be rewarded by the company’s content monetization programme.
The policy also states that content that contains one static image and little or no motion will not be rewarded. Other types of content that may not be accepted include static image polls which include content posted for the sole aim of increasing engagement by asking people to react to questions posed by the content, slideshow of images, looping videos, text montages and embedded ads amongst others.
