Battle of the social media titans: Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta to launch app to rival Elon’s Twitter – that will restrict users to character-limited posts
- Meta confirmed Friday that it is creating a Twitter competitor
- The standalone app would let users share character-limited updates
- READ MORE: Ex-Twitter exec says Elon Musk is ‘behaving like the local drunk
Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta announced Friday that it is creating a new social media app that lets users share character-limited posts to take on Elon Musk’s Twitter.
A Meta spokesperson confirmed the ‘standalone decentralized social network’ to Reuters, stating that ‘there is an opportunity for a separate space’ for people to share updates about their interests.
The app’s name is unknown, but it will be based on a similar framework that powers Mastodon, a Twitter-like service launched in 2016.
A Twitter-like app would allow Meta to take advantage of the current chaos at the Musk-led company, where cost-cutting and layoffs have been rampant.
Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta announced Friday that it is creating a new social media app that lets users share character-limited posts to take on Elon Musk’s Twitter
MoneyControl reported Thursday about Meta’s Twitter competitor, stating it is codenamed ‘P92.’
The app would be Instagram-branded, allowing users to register with the same credentials, people familiar with the matter told MoneyControl.
The app was just speculation at the time of this reporting, but Meta has now confirmed it.
DailyMail.com has contacted Meta for comment.
Mastodon rose in popularity about one month after Musk’s Twitter takeover in October 2022 – hundreds of thousands of users flocked to the little-known social media rival.
It claims to offer ‘a vision of social media that cannot be bought and owned by any billionaire.’
Mastodon has microblogging features similar to Twitter but describes itself as a ‘decentralized’ alternative without a single company monopolizing your communication.
This platform allows up to a 500-character limit, compared to Twitter’s 280 limit for non-subscribers and Twitter Blue users outside the US.
It is also decentralized, meaning no single person, company or server is running it, so fans see it as a more democratic alternative.
Mastodon peaked in the last week of November and the first week of December last year when its users hit around 2.5 million.
A Meta spokesperson confirmed the ‘standalone decentralized social network’ to Reuters, stating that ‘there is an opportunity for a separate space’ for people to share updates about their interests
The app’s name is unknown, but it will be based on a similar framework that powers Mastodon, a Twitter-like service launched in 2016
However, recent numbers show a dramatic decline.
Meta’s plans come at a time when its most prominent platform, Facebook, is struggling to attract 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 hit influencers abandon the platform for TikTok.
It was not immediately clear when Meta would roll out the new app.
‘The history of Meta is that they are much better acquirers than they are 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 to make money out of much quicker timeline than the metaverse investment.’
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