Instagram has announced that it is officially expanding its Gifts feature to several countries, including Malaysia. The feature was tested late last year and has been slowly rolled out in select markets, with the latest batch seeing Gifts being made available in dozens of countries covering Asia, Europe, and South America.
If you’re unfamiliar, Instagram Gifts allows followers to support their favourite creators by giving them monetary tips in the form of digital gifts which creators can then check out in cash. The gifts look like stickers so you can be creative with your tips.
Gifts can only be redeemed through “Stars”, which are basically Instagram’s in-house currency for this programme. So, to buy a gift for a creator, you first need to purchase stars. The Malaysian pricing isn’t available yet but for reference, in the US, the app charges US$0.99 (~RM4.70) for 45 stars, with the cheapest gift costing 10 stars.
The company says that Gifts will be rolling out to the new markets over the coming weeks. In order for a creator to be eligible to receive gifts, they must have a professional account, be at least 18 years old, meet the platform’s partner monetisation standards, and have over 5,000 followers.
(Source: Instagram)
