Social networks: Meta wants to create a rival to Twitter

On Mar 11, 2023

Facebook’s parent company Meta wants to create a new global social network to rival Twitter, media reports said Friday.

“We are exploring a standalone decentralised social network for sharing text updates,” a spokesperson for the California-based company said in a statement to the media.

Meta believes there is an opportunity for a separate space where creators and public figures can share timely updates about their interests.

Meta’s app will operate in a decentralised fashion similar to Mastodon, a Twitter-like service launched in 2016 that now has about 2 million monthly active users, the same source said. The launch date of the new application has not yet been set.

The number of monthly active users of Meta’s app bouquet grew by 4.2% in the December 2022 quarter, compared to 8.8% growth a year earlier.

Meta, which saw its user base explode after buying Instagram and WhatsApp in the early 2010s, has recently faced intense competition from Chinese short video app TikTok.