Meta is exploring building a new, standalone platform for sharing text updates in what could mark the most high-profile new contender to take on Twitter as it falters under Elon Musk. The new platform would be decentralized and currently is in its early stages. The project is being led by Instagram Head Adam Mosseri and being given the codename P92.
If Meta’s new platform were decentralized, it could allow third parties to build apps and features into the platform. Potentially giving users experiences beyond what Meta itself might build. Another benefit of a decentralized platform is users could ostensibly create different servers or communities, each with their own rules rather than one central platform controlled by Meta. The concept is similar to Reddit or Discord.
The framework of Meta’s plans would be similar to that one of the already existing apps called Mastodon. Mastodon is a Twitter-like service which was launched in 2016 and has since gained large popularity following Musk’s complete Twitter acquisition. It is a free open-source decentralized platform that cannot be run at the whim of a single entity, bought or sold. In this app, users can use features similar to that of twitter such as likes and follow. The biggest stark difference is that users would need to join servers that create a collective web owned by that of the users.
This new service from Meta comes at the right moment when the company is doing not so great. As Facebook is struggling on gaining the attention of a younger audience, while its huge investments in the metaverse, a virtual world where users interact and work, show little signs of paying off, at least in the near term. Its video-sharing app, Instagram, is also facing stiff competition as content makers or influencers abandon the platform for TikTok.
Various sides also gave their opinion on this new social platform plan, though most of them don’t really have high hopes. According to Thomas Hayes, chairman and managing member of New York-based Great Hill Capital, Meta’s moves regarding the new platform is just a defensive maneuver and that Meta is better off as an acquirer rather than innovator or developer.
One user also wrote that right now Meta is just trying everything and that with a blogging site it should make money quicker than metaverse. For now, there has been no official statement regarding any date of the new platform. However since it is similar to Twitter, we should have a little imagination on what the end product will be.
Source: Reuters, CNN
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