Facebook bought Instagram in 2012 for $1 billion in cash and stock. Reuters
Facebook bought Instagram in 2012 for $1 billion in cash and stock. Reuters
Facebook bought Instagram in 2012 for $1 billion in cash and stock. Reuters
Facebook bought Instagram in 2012 for $1 billion in cash and stock. Reuters

Technology

Middle East social media users to be able to add music to their Instagram and Facebook stories

The feature will be available in the region from Monday

Alkesh Sharma
Alkesh Sharma

March 08, 2021

  • English
  • Arabic

Social networking company Facebook said users in the Middle East and North Africa will be able to use the “music on Facebook and Instagram” feature starting from Monday.

Globally launched in October 2018, the feature allows Facebook and Instagram users to add a song to their photos and videos on their stories – short user-generated multimedia collections that can be uploaded to the users’ Facebook account.

“We see music as a core part of the future of entertainment on Facebook and Instagram,” Facebook said in a statement.

“People have always come to Facebook and Instagram to express themselves and be entertained … we are focused on bringing music into the ways people share, connect and express themselves.”

Facebook's music feature was made available in Egypt, most populous country in the Arab world, shortly after its global launch. The service was an instant success in Egypt, the company said.

The company is working with creators and music partners locally as well as globally to let users “connect and share how they feel through music across the Facebook family of apps”.

To add a song to photos and videos in stories, open the camera on Instagram or Facebook or select a photo or video from your gallery, touch the sticker icon and add the music sticker.

Users can search from a library of songs, choose one and select a part they would like to highlight in their stories. If the song has lyrics available, they will automatically pop up.

The latest feature also allows users to add music to their Facebook profile. The song will be played when people visit their profile and they can also visit the artist's page by clicking on the track.

Founded in 2010, Instagram was bought by Facebook for $1 billion in cash and stock in 2012.

Today, the photo sharing app has more than 1 billion monthly users. Its Stories feature, which was introduced in 2016 to rival a similar service in Snapchat, is used by 500 million daily users.

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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

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