With a Twitter-like app, Meta could take advantage of the current chaos at the Elon Musk-led company.
Meta Platforms Inc is exploring plans to launch a new social media app in its bid to supplant Twitter as the world’s “digital town square”.
“We are exploring a self-contained decentralized social network for sharing text updates. We believe there is an opportunity for a separate space where creators and public figures can share timely updates about their interests,” a Meta spokesperson told Reuters in an emailed statement.
Meta’s app will be based on a similar framework that powers Mastodon, a Twitter-like service launched in 2016.
With a Twitter-like app, Meta could take advantage of the current chaos at the Elon Musk-led company, where cost-cutting was rampant.
Twitter has been struggling to hold on to its ad base since Musk’s acquisition of the platform late last year. Businesses have pulled back spending following Twitter’s move to reinstate suspended accounts and release a paid account verification that led scammers to impersonate businesses.
Meta’s plans came at a time when the largest platform, Facebook, is struggling to capture the attention of a younger audience, while massive investments in the metaverse, a virtual world in which users interact and work, are showing little sign of paying off. at least in the short term.
The video-sharing app, Instagram, is also facing fierce competition as content creators or key influencers leave the platform for TikTok.
It wasn’t immediately clear when Meta would roll out the new app.
“The history of Meta is that they are much better acquirers than innovators or developers… as far as copying Twitter, this is just a defensive move,” said Thomas Hayes, chairman and managing member of New York-based Great Hill Capital.
“They’re just trying everything…at least with a mini-blogging site like Twitter, there’s some expectation that it could start making money on a much faster timeline than the reverse investment.”
Meta’s investments in the metaverse won’t drive revenue growth until 2030, analysts have said.
Metashares were marginally higher at $181.7 in early Friday trading. They’ve gained about 51 percent so far this year.
