LOS ANGELES, Feb 21 — To follow in its older sibling’s footsteps, Instagram will be adding a donation feature similar to Facebook’s fundraising tool to the platform this year.

At Facebook’s Communities Summit earlier this month, the company briefly mentioned that Instagram Fundraiser stickers are in the works, but already after combing through the Android app’s code, TechCrunch’s Ishan Agarwal found information “detailing how users will be able to search for non-profits or browse collections of suggested charities and ones they follow.”

Following this discovery, reverse-engineering specialist Jane Manchun Wong was able to produce images of what the donation stickers and non-profit search engine could look like on the app:

A Facebook spokesperson then summarised the feature to TechCrunch: “Later this year, people will be able to raise money and help support non-profits that are important to them through a donation sticker in Instagram Stories. We’re excited to bring this experience to our community and will share more updates in the coming months.”

The fundraising tool on Facebook not only raised over US$1 billion (RM4 billion), but also greatly aided in the progression of the platform’s commerce strategy — which Zuckerberg admitted will be a major part of 2019 — by saving the credit cards used for donations on file.

Instagram, too, has demonstrated a commitment to commerce with the gradual addition of features and tools to make on-platform shopping easier and more personalized; soon, those credit cards which the company has on file could be used for making donations, as well. As outlined by TechCrunch, “After you’ve donated to something once, Instagram could offer instant checkout on stuff you want to buy using the same payment details.”

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Therefore, a side effect to making a donations sticker is that each user’s shopping experiences will be streamlined, perhaps even made a little too easy. — Relaxnews