In recent years, the Mark Zuckerberg Meta has thrived on savvy acquisitions while trying to launch its own products. Photo: JOSH EDELSON/AFP via Getty Images
At last week's Meta staff meeting, Chris Cox, one of Mark Zuckerberg's most trusted aides, unveiled what he called «our response to Twitter.»
The product lead demonstrated what was internally codenamed «Project 92» or, in some versions, «Barcelona»: a prototype application that the Facebook developer hopes will finally kill its competitor.
Expected to be the app will be called Threads, and the screenshots suggest it will have Twitter-like continuous scrolling text, with buttons similar to the Like and Retweet features, according to tech news site The Verge.
Zuckerberg's company is already enlisting celebrities and influencers to test the app. Meta has been in talks with TV presenter Oprah Winfrey and Tibetan religious leader the Dalai Lama to open accounts, hoping high-profile early adopters will help entice the masses to join.
«I know exactly what they are» I spoke to a British celebrity and some famous American stars,” says Matt Navarra, social media consultant.
The launch of the new app could be as early as «at the end of the month or early next month, they've been doing onboarding people for a while now,» he claims. have a 500-character limit on their posts, staying true to Twitter's original ethos even as the competing platform is ditching shorter tweets in favor of longer essays.
The whole design, according to Navarra, is «strikingly similar to Twitter.»
Users will likely be able to transfer account information from Instagram, including the ability to save their handle. and notify subscribers to join them.
We hope this should make selling easier for people who have a lot of followers on other platforms.
Since taking over Twitter, Elon Musk has faced backlash from advertisers and has struggled to monetize the platform. Photo: Chesnot/Getty Images
Zuckerberg Twitter is poised for an attack after Twitter bounced back from its takeover by Elon Musk last year.
Since Musk acquired it for $44 billion last October, Twitter has been running out of ad money, and some users left immediately.
Advertisers and users were dismayed by Musk's decision to lift some of the bans on accounts banned for hate speech. It also stripped accounts of their blue checkmarks and forced them to pay for a status symbol, which is an insult to some.
Companies now fear that their ads may appear alongside misinformation or hate speech. The New York Times reported that Twitter ad spend fell 59% year-on-year, according to internal forecasts.
At the same time, Musk has struggled to turn Twitter users into paying followers as part of his new 'Twitter Blue' offer that costs £8 a month.
This leaves Twitter hopeless and vulnerable to attack.
Zuckerberg, always an opportunist, saw an opportunity to undermine long-time rival Facebook. Work on the new Meta app began in January, just weeks after Musk finally took over Twitter.
“It’s a smart move for Zuck to take advantage of the Twitter turmoil,” says Dan Ives, tech analyst wedbush. Securities.
The creator of Facebook has long been fond of Twitter. He once tried to buy a fledgling app in 2008 for $500 million when he was just two years old.
Can Threads really dethrone Twitter as the world's leader? city square?
So far, smaller rivals have not been able to do too much damage. Apps like Bluesky, backed by former Twitter boss Jack Dorsey, and Mastodon survived the surge in user numbers following Musk's rise to power, but failed to turn that surge into real momentum.
But Meta poses a much more real threat . Advertisers are likely to be much more willing to put their ad dollars into Zuckerberg than smaller competitors.
Despite Facebook's historical concerns about security, especially for younger users, «advertisers will be very open to new offerings.» . by Meta,” says Brian Wiser, freelance advertising analyst who writes the Madison and Wall newsletter.
He says, «While I think issues of brand safety and suitability tend to be a concern on all social media… nothing keeps most advertisers away from Meta like Elon Musk's presence on Twitter.»
Twitter by is still popular among politicians, journalists, celebrities and experts. However, Zuckerberg's Facebook and Instagram apps have always been much bigger.
Musk said in November that Twitter usage was «the highest of all time» with about 250 million users since he took over. However, this pales in comparison to the over 2 billion people who only use Instagram. Zuckerberg only needed to convince part of his user base to create an account that poses a threat to Twitter.
Even with the backlash against its Facebook app, Instagram has maintained a «positive halo effect» around it. Meta, according to Navarra. His brand helped convince advertisers to talk about his big brother despite a string of negative headlines.
Rival app Meta could help win over liberal celebrities and uptight brands tired of Musk's antics.
Veteran Ads Linda Iaccarino was recently brought in to manage Twitter to ensure stability and reassure advertisers. Photo: Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images
According to The Verge, Mr. Cox, Chief Product Officer of Meta, told employees, «We've heard from creators and community leaders who are interested in making the platform work intelligently.»
Zuckerberg could do with a win: The Meta is facing growing unrest among its investors over costly infiltration into the «Metaverse.» The company spends more than $1 billion every month trying to engage users in Zuckerberg's vision of a futuristic, immersive version of the Internet, powered by virtual reality.
Meta's track record of launching its own applications, however, should be thought-provoking. Aside from Facebook, Zuckerberg's main creation, the company has struggled to implement original ideas and instead evolved through savvy acquisitions, mainly Instagram and WhatsApp.
In recent years, Meta has killed off: Direct, an Instagram-based messaging app; Groups that were spun off from Facebook but received only 15 million downloads; and Neighborhoods, a community app.
Meta doesn't have a lot of experience launching new apps for younger audiences, Navarra says. “Most of them broke down very quickly and didn’t go anywhere.”
«It's better to copy and paste successful features than launch new ones,» he adds. Zuckerberg notably adapted the popular «Stories» format — short videos that are attached to a user's profile — from rival Snapchat to Instagram in 2016, which reduced the rival app's popularity.
The company has also redesigned Instagram to look more like fast-growing rival TikTok, though it has reverted some of the changes after user backlash.
Perhaps as insurance against Threads' eventual failure. Zuckerberg is exploring features that will help WhatsApp attract exiles from Twitter.
The company has launched channels, a way for brands or organizations to communicate messages to large groups of subscribers. They can send messages, images, audio or video.
Sports teams such as Manchester City and Barcelona, as well as government groups, have signed up. With 2 billion users, this could be a more effective way to reach people directly than hoping they see the tweet.
Be it WhatsApp or Threads, Zuckerberg's fight with Musk is unlikely to be easy. Ives says rivals face «a costly battle for market share as advertising growth remains under pressure.»
Musk doesn't stop there. He tweeted in response to reports of the Meta's «suck my tongue» plans, apparently a reference to a controversial incident in which the Dalai Lama told a child to «suck my tongue.»
Linda Iaccarino, The newly appointed CEO on Twitter, who was brought in to appease advertisers, defiantly replied, «The game is on!»
A Meta spokesperson declined to comment.
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