Meta revealed that its Instagram app will be launching a new independent app that will be “Meta’s response to Twitter,” according to the Wall Street Journal, quoting Meta chief product officer Chris Cox during a June 8 meeting this year.
Oprah Winfrey and the Dalai Lama are committed to using the app, Cox indicated, and Meta reportedly has a commitment from several celebrities including DJ Slime.
The app launch is yet not clear, but what is beyond doubt is that the company plans to develop several generative AI services into all its products, including the new app.
Ahmad Al-Dahle, Meta’s vice president of AI, told employees that the company will harness its image generation model to let users create stickers based on text prompts.
“With AI-generated stickers, our users can have infinitely more options for self-expression, cultural representations, and even trend relevance,” Al-Dahle said adding that meta is “working on AI models that are going to transform any image you want in any way you want.”
Read: Elon Musk gives up his position as CEO of Twitter
Twitter troubles
Twitter which has about 360 million users has been the subject of controversy ever since Musk stepped in as boss. He laid off over 50% of company workers and made a mess of blue checks as a pay-to-play feature.
Users whose previous identities were verified by a free blue check now had to pay $8 a month, if they were individual web users, whereas companies pay no less than $1,000 monthly for the same verification.
One positive thing Musk did to right the Twitter ship was to step down in favor of NBCUniversal Linda Yaccarino who is tasked with increasing ad revenues which sunk nearly 60% in 2023.
Last week, Yaccarino already assumed the role, earlier than expected.
ActivityPub
The new Instagram-based standalone app, coded Project 92, will integrate with ActivityPub, the decentralized social media protocol allowing users to move their accounts and followers with them to other apps that support ActivityPub.
The integration inherently makes the app a decentralized one like Twitter rival Mastodon which launched in April.
The upcoming meta app could compete with Twitter because of its alliance with Instagram, allowing it to leverage photo-sharing to more than 1 billion users, Statista reported.
Twitter-like meta WhatsApp Channels
Meanwhile, Meta’s WhatsApp is adding the Twitter-like ability to follow accounts outside personal contacts.
Under a new section of the app called “updates”, the service will be separate from existing private chats, and behaves in the same fashion as news feeds.
Users will have the ability to look for individuals and organizations they might like to follow and the list includes sports teams, top officials, and other interests.
Owners of followable pages, dubbed “channels”, will also be able to invite people to join using direct links.
Reportedly, UK premier club Manchester City and the World Health Organization are among those who have signed up.
Posts from channels can include text, photos, videos, and polls.
Meta described channels as a “private broadcast service”, with page owners and followers both having their phone numbers and profile photos hidden from view.
One issue so far is the failure of channels to enjoy the same end-to-end encryption that WhatsApp’s chats are famous for, something Meta said it would consider adding later, in certain cases.
Meta said channels will roll out initially in Colombia and Singapore and will come to other countries including the UK in the “coming months.”
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