Facebook is introducing an ability that lets small businesses, educators, and media publishers to earn money from virtual events that are hosting on the Facebook platform. This service is available only to the owners of the Facebook page, which is also a public profile for business, celebrities & other organizations.
During this coronavirus pandemic and social distancing norms, it was useful to the small businesses and sole proprietors that seek to reach the ultimate customers. As the bigger companies have the financial resources and manpower to host various online events, smaller companies have fewer options to make money from their limited knowledge.
Page owners can create, promote, collect a payment, and host the event. As now social distancing norms are taking place many businesses and creators are bringing their events online to reach out to more customer base. This lockdown had made people rely on live video and interactive experiences more when they cant come together in a face to face manner.
To support small businesses and sole traders, Facebook will not collect any fees from paid online events for at least the next year. The transactions made on Android in countries, the businesses will keep 100% of the revenue they earn from paid virtual events. The Facebook company requested Apple to reduce its 30% App Store tax so that all the costs can be taken up by the small businesses that are struggling during this COVID-19 pandemic. Unfortunately, Apple dismissed the request, and small scale businesses will only be paid 70% of their earned revenue.
In testing, we’ve seen businesses use Facebook to host expert talks, trivia events, podcast recordings, cooking classes, intimate meet-and-greets, fitness classes, etc” Fidji Simo, Vice President, Head of Facebook App, said in a statement.
According to Facebook, live broadcasts and online events will continue to increase the users, also the study says that Facebook live stream is more revenue-generating platform than YouTube live streams. So mostly many customers who were earning through YouTube can move to Facebook which is an advantage for the company.
“Now, Pages in 20 countries around the world that meet our partner monetization policies can start charging for online events, making it easier for millions of people and small businesses to make money on Facebook,” Simo added.
