Reading 3 min Views 4 Published Updated
In a secret meeting with select creators, Instagram’s parent company, Meta, reportedly revealed its plan to launch a text-based communication app. Leaked screenshots of the purported future app show a Twitter-like user interface.
Instagram’s plan to compete with Twitter was revealed by Leah Haberman, a professor of influencer marketing and social media marketing at UCLA. Though built on top of Instagram, the text app is decentralized and will function as a standalone app, Haberman said. The application will also be compatible with other decentralized social media applications such as Mastodon, allowing users to reach more audiences.
Meta’s been briefing creators on it’s upcoming text-based app — now looking at a possible late June launch.
Details are in my newsletter but I’ll list some highlights pic.twitter.com/KYqqXjrRmD
— Lia Haberman (@liahaberman) May 19, 2023
The upcoming app will support a centralized Twitter-like feed, allowing users to view content such as text, images, and videos shared by followers and recommended accounts. Each text post will be limited to a word limit of 500 characters.
While the Twitter rival app will operate independently of Instagram, author controls and account security features such as blocked accounts and keywords will be migrated to the new app.
Confirmed with sources that Instagram is working on a Twitter competitor (a separate app) for release this summer. It might eventually be compatible with open solutions like Mastodon. Credit to @liahaberman @MattNavarra @CaseyNewton for earlier deets https://t.co/f2KNITGZy6
— Sarah Frier (@sarahfrier) May 19, 2023
Bloomberg reporter Sarah Fryer reportedly confirmed that the Twitter-like Instagram app was developed by insiders. Meta first confirmed plans to develop an offline decentralized social network in March, stating, “We are exploring an offline decentralized social network for sharing text updates. We believe there is an opportunity for a separate space where creators and public figures can share timely news about their interests.”
Related: Meta disables NFT on Instagram and Facebook
In an effort to enable further decentralization on the web, TBD — a division of fintech company Jack Dorsey Block — has announced a Web5 decentralized web platform that aims to bring “decentralized identity and data storage” to applications.
To facilitate this decentralized web experience, the TBD web5 platform will introduce several key components and leverage the use of decentralized identities.