Meta, the giant in social media, has revealed plans to expand its reach with an upcoming text-sharing platform. This platform is presumed to be a direct competitor of Twitter at a time when the latter’s performance is suffering. Meta took to their official channels late on Friday to confirm reports that they are starting development of this new platform.
“We’re exploring a standalone decentralized social network for sharing text updates,” a Meta spokesperson said in a statement to Reuters.
“We believe there’s an opportunity for a separate space where creators and public figures can share timely updates about their interests,” they added.
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Decentralized social media networks, which typically allow users to form separate communities and establish their own rules and guidelines, have grown in popularity in the wake of Musk’s chaotic takeover of Twitter.
Mastodon, one such decentralized network, exploded in popularity after the Tesla CEO acquired Twitter last fall. It grew from less than 500,000 active users in late October to more than 2.5 million users in early December, spiking each time Musk made controversial decisions.
Meta has followed Twitter’s lead on several issues since Musk’s takeover, launching a verified subscription service similar to Twitter Blue and restoring former President Trump’s access to his accounts on Facebook and Instagram after he was reinstated on Twitter.