Meta Is Working On A Twitter Rival, Launching In Late June

Meta Is Working On A Twitter Rival, Launching In Late June

The company is working on what looks to be the most direct competition to Twitter to date.

Since Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter last October, it has triggered a mass exodus of users jumping to rivaling platforms such as Mastodon and Bluesky (which in itself is created by Jack Dorsey, the very person who founded Twitter). Now, a new report from Lia Haberman, a digital marketing expert, may shine some light on Meta’s equivalent that can put serious pressure against Elon’s platform.

As she noted, Meta has contacted with some creators on the platform for discussions, and one of them told Haberman the new app is essentially “Instagram for your thoughts”. The key part that this Meta-built app separates between Mastodon and Bluesky however, is the integration. It’s said that existing settings from the Instagram app will directly carry over to the new app, from usernames, passwords, blocking lists and even all the existing followers’ lists.

Based on a (somewhat blurry) example I got, Meta's new app looks a lot like Twitter.

So, could this take over all the Twitter screenshots we've been seeing on the Feed lately? Maybe.

It’s impossible to predict how audiences will respond but this could be an alternative. pic.twitter.com/xgQa1kUjCl

— Lia Haberman (@liahaberman) May 19, 2023

 

It also comes with a character limit – at 500 words maximum – which mimics the pre-Elon Twitter that maxed out at 280 before the new Blue subscription increased that limit 10,000 characters. Users can also attach links, photos and videos up to 5 minutes long. Various aspects of the new app is pointing to a heavily copied version of what Twitter looks like right now (or at least, the pre-Elon Twitter), albeit with IG’s design language attached to it.

Granted, Meta has historically had a habit of making near carbon copies of various platforms in the past as they broke out into sudden popularity. The Stories feature originated from Snapchat – which has since had its popularity greatly reduced; and the Reels features are made as a response to TikTok’s short video formats.

Source: Engadget

Pokdepinion: This might be the crucial one that topples Twitter as we know it – Meta just simply have significantly more resources to throw at it to snuff out the competition.