Twitter braces for Instagram rival

“Game on,” said Twitter’s incoming chief Linda Yaccarino after reports Instagram is preparing to launch a competing text-based app in the summer.

Yaccarino, named by Elon Musk as his successor earlier this month, tweeted in response to reports that Meta-owned Instagram is planning to debut its own microblogging platform as soon as the end of June.

Potential competition from Meta will add to Yaccarino’s challenges on her way to turning Twitter into an “everything app,” including a heavy debt load, an exodus of advertisers, and severely reduced staff.

Game on! https://t.co/62JYrLuuCJ

undefined Linda Yaccarino (@lindayacc) May 21, 2023

Meta has been rumored to be working on a new decentralized social media app for a while, but the latest ICYMI newsletter by Lia Haberman has shed light on how it would actually look and feel.

Judging from what appears to be a screenshot of a leaked marketing slide from Meta, its new text-based platform, codenamed P92 or Barcelona, will be strikingly similar to Twitter, at least visually.

Other than that, the “decentralized app is built on the back of Instagram but will be compatible with some other apps like Mastodon,” Haberman said in the newsletter.

Based on a (somewhat blurry) example I got, Meta's new app looks a lot like Twitter.

So, could this take over all the Twitter screenshots we've been seeing on the Feed lately? Maybe.

It’s impossible to predict how audiences will respond but this could be an alternative. pic.twitter.com/xgQa1kUjCl

undefined Lia Haberman (@liahaberman) May 19, 2023

Citing her sources, Haberman said that Meta had been holding “secret calls” with select creators about its new app and hinting at potential late June launch.

Cybernews has reached out to Meta for comment.

Some Twitter users have been looking for alternative platforms since Musk’s chaotic takeover of the company in October.

Mastodon gained some traction but is more complicated than Twitter to use, while Bluesky, founded by Twitter’s former boss Jack Dorsey, is currently invitations-only.

Meta’s new app could offer the most viable alternative so far and is clearly seen by Twitter as potentially the most formidable challenger yet.