It's a matter of time before this subscription model spreads like wildfire into everything. Think your Whatsapp is going to stay free? It'll start with a badge and verification for at $12/month, then guess what, it'll soon be a $2-5 a month for anyone to use the platform, possibly "less ad" version. And because the free version will be so unbearable and bloated, people will buy another subscription to their monthly bundle. Why? Because a couple bucks a month is less than a coffee! Right? Ironically this strategy will also mark the death of the subscription model. My guess is that groups of people will start their own little silo'd social media channels, a la Discord.