The parent company of Facebook and Instagram, Meta, is exploring the possibility of creating an application that competes with Twitter, specialty website MoneyControl said Friday. This new platform, currently codenamed P92, will also allow users to post in text form.
Meta confirmed this information in an email to Reuters news agency: “We are exploring an autonomous decentralized social network for text updates. We believe there is an opportunity for a separate space where creators and public figures can share news about their interests in a timely manner,” a Meta spokesperson said.
Unknown stage of development
This new app will be launched under the Instagram brand and will allow users to register and log in directly using their Instagram credentials. According to MoneyControl, their Instagram profile will also be automatically populated with bio, name, featured images and videos.
The app will look like Mastodon, the app that recently welcomed new followers, former Twitter users frustrated with the turn the platform is taking following Elon Musk’s decisions. Like her, P92 will be decentralized, which means that users will be able to create their own servers and set their own content moderation rules. Whether users will be able to subscribe to each other, as on Twitter, is still unknown. The development stage of the application is not yet known, and the launch date has not yet been specified.
Meta struggles with competition from TikTok
Meta Group, which saw its user numbers skyrocket after acquiring Instagram and WhatsApp in the early 2010s, recently faced stiff competition from Chinese short video app TikTok. The number of monthly active users of the Meta family of apps increased by 4.2% in December 2022, compared to an 8.8% growth a year earlier.
With the introduction of the new “Notes” feature in the app, Instagram Meta is once again trying to compete with Twitter, according to several observers. “This is a strategy to dominate all social media spaces and provide offerings that cover all use cases and demographics,” said Jehil Thakkar, partner at Deloitte in India.
With Reuters