Individuals and Businesses can now create, host and earn money from their online events on Facebook. The announcement for this feature was made via a blog post some days ago by Fidji Simo Vice President, Head of Facebook App.
According to Fidji in the post;
“With social distancing mandates still in place, many businesses and creators are bringing their events and services online to connect with existing customers and reach new ones. People are also relying on live video and interactive experiences more when they can’t come together physically. In June, we saw live broadcasts from Pages double compared to the same time last year, largely attributed to broadcasts since March.”
“By combining marketing, payment and live video, paid online events meet the end-to-end needs of businesses. Pages can host events on Facebook Live to reach broad audiences, and we’re testing paid events with Messenger Rooms for more personal and interactive gatherings.”
However this feature is available in 20 countries around the world not including any in Africa. Customers also have to meet Facebook’s partner monetization policies before they can start charging for online events
Check here to see if you qualify and get access.
As an added bonus to the launch of this feature to support small businesses and creators, Facebook says it will not collect any fees from paid online events for at least the next year. “For transactions on the web, and on Android in countries where we have rolled out Facebook Pay, small businesses will keep 100% of the revenue they generate from paid online events.”
It however mentioned that when it asked Apple to reduce its 30% App Store tax or allow it offer Facebook Pay so we could absorb all costs for businesses struggling during COVID-19, Apple denied the requests. This means that SMBs will only be paid 70% of their hard-earned revenue.
