An increasing number of companies planning to launch an alternative to Twitter is reportedly joined by the large Meta. According to Fast Company, Meta plans to develop its own version of a ‘text-based’ social platform that is intended to be a direct competitor to Twitter.
As the number of users and revenues have declined since Elon Musk took over, Mark Zuckerberg and his team see this as an excellent opportunity to patch their own budget holes.
The news that they are starting the development of a platform codenamed P92 or Barcelona came shortly after they reported a resurgence in daily active users on Facebook.
In addition to their ‘firstborn’ platform performing better, Instagram is also seeing good results – users spent 24 percent more time on the platform in the last quarter compared to the same period last year.
A Good Opportunity
As Fast Company learns, this platform is expected to carry Meta’s new digital brand. Users will be able to log into the new platform using their Instagram accounts, while those who are blocked on it will not have access to the Twitter alternative.
The space that has opened up in the market after disappointed users began leaving Twitter due to Musk’s mistakes and Instagram’s stable position gives Zuckerberg hope that he will be able to build a profitable platform. Additionally, it is a good sign for him that the competition has (so far) not proven itself.
Mastodon, for example, is not as user-friendly as Twitter, and interest in Blue Sky is growing, but it is still in beta phase, so the wider audience cannot try it out. Meta’s alternative could see the light of day as early as next month, and according to insiders, posts will not exceed 500 characters and will be compatible with existing alternatives, such as Mastodon.
It is now up to Zuckerberg and his team to attract influential content creators who currently make up only 10 percent of the total number of users but create (both directly and indirectly) as much as 90 percent of the content and bring in half of the total revenue.
Fast Company sent an inquiry to Meta, but by the time of publication, they had neither denied nor confirmed the news about the launch of the new platform.
