For years, there have been jokes and rumours about Facebook eventually charging users just to keep their accounts active. Meta has not gone that far, thankfully, but it has now introduced paid "Plus" subscriptions for Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp in Malaysia.

WhatsApp has been slowly expanding its "view once" feature over the years, and now it looks like text messages may be next in line. The feature originally arrived in 2021 for photos and videos, giving users a way to send media that could only be opened once by the recipient. Later, WhatsApp extended the same idea to voice messages, making temporary sharing useful for more than just images and clips.

Meta is taking a bigger step into paid digital services with the launch of new subscription plans for Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. For years, the company has depended heavily on advertising as its main source of revenue, but this latest move shows that Meta is now looking for more ways to earn directly from users, creators and businesses.

WhatsApp Status has come a long way from what it used to be. Years ago, it was simply a short text line under your profile, usually something like "Available", "Busy", or a custom message that quietly sat in the background. Then in 2017, WhatsApp changed the feature completely and turned Status into something closer to Instagram Stories, where users could share photos, videos, text updates, and moments that disappear after 24 hours.

Instagram has introduced a new feature called Instants, and depending on how often you use the app's inbox, you may have already seen it without fully realising what it was. Some users have noticed a small photo tab appearing at the bottom-right corner of their Instagram DM screen. Tap on it, and you may find a collection of temporary photos shared by people you follow. That small addition is Instagram's latest experiment in fast, casual, and disappearing photo sharing.