As there’s been a serious exodus from Twitter, both in terms of users and major advertisers, it’s revenue are doing in the area of 40% since Elon Musk took over. Facebook wants to profit from the meltdown.
Reports seem to indicate that Facebook is building a text-based, decentralized social network. Because, who wants to call this company Meta anyways?
Meta is working on a Twitter killer
The Mastodon twist is perhaps the most bizarre part. Moneycontrol(Opens in a new tab) broke the news, and Meta confirmed the news, though the company didn't share too many details about what it's working on.
If the reports are to be believed, the decentralised nature of the planned platform would be similar to Mastodon, the social network created by a German developer that uses an open-source code.
Twitter now has Mastodon, Bluesky, Post News, Artifact and other more text based apps. Facebook and ByteDance (the maker of TikTok) are both likely to create text based Twitter competitors in 2024 I believe.
All we know is the new app focused on text-based content will indeed support ActivityPub — a decentralized social networking protocol also used by Mastodon and other Twitter competitors.
So in theory, a platform that has an open-source algorithm will allow the public to inspect and scrutinise its proprietary software, or even use it in other applications.
"We’re exploring a standalone decentralized social network for sharing text updates. We believe there’s an opportunity for a separate space where creators and public figures can share timely updates about their interests," a Meta spokesperson told Moneycontrol.
Codenamed P-92
The project is code-named “P92” and would be interoperable with Mastodon. But the branding will be via Instagram, using Instagram credentials whether people like it or not.
"We believe there’s an opportunity for a separate space where creators and public figures can share timely updates about their interests."
Meta is a bit like a lost brand, with advertising that’s failing and an uncertain future in the speculative Metaverse. It’s going to do more rounds of massive layoffs. Google and Facebook basically over hired engineers you know, so other companies wouldn’t get that. What’s what being an Ad-junkie does to you.
Money-control's report said something a bit weird:
The app will be Instagram-branded and will allow users to register/login to the app through their Instagram credentials, they said. Moneycontrol has seen a copy of an internal product brief that elaborates on the functioning and various product features of the app.
So basically like an instagram for text. I’m surprised TikTok hasn’t itself spun out such an app in the Twitter downfall. With Toutiao they just have so much experience with their recommendation engine, not just with mobile video.
Money-control’s report was somewhat lacking details. They simply said: To be sure, it’s not clear whether this app, codenamed P92, is still at an idea-stage or the development has begun on the app. A source close to the development said that it is still a work-in-progress.
Whatever the case may be, many brands see Twitter in trouble and will want to inherit the text and breaking news buzz that Twitter has had for a good 15 years or more. It’s a solid 200 million market for sure.
I’m not sure if Twitter even has a long-term future any longer, given how poorly it’s been managed of late. Elon Musk making fun of disabled employees at this company doesn’t exactly help. His bulldozer approach has scared off advertisers and they are’’t going to come back. Twitter doesn’t have the scale for Ads or subscriptions to make any sense. Acquiring it was easily the biggest mistake in Elon Musk’s life.
The problem is text based apps are hard to grow in this climate. Many people are leaving social media and there’s an exodus from algorithmic feeds and even stories due to burn-out. It’s really a waste of time and moreover usually poor for our mental health.
Meta is currently in the initial stages of creating the app that will enable users to share text-based update, but Facebook’s record of innovation and building out apps and products is really poor. I’ve covered many of them and they simply don’t exist any longer. Besides acquiring WhatsApp and Instagram, sadly Facebook even had to re-group Messenger with its original Facebook platform and app, not a good sign.
I don’t have high hopes for Facebook ‘P92’, since their history is just riddled with very poor product launches and mostly failures. Facebook realistically has little chance of rejuvenating its company as its advertising duopoly is set to be toppled in the 2020s, gradually and then suddenly.