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Codenamed P92, it’ll be a decentralized, text-based social network
Meta is working on a decentralized social app, according to reports by Platformer and MoneyControl.
“Twitter’s decline is paving the way for other platforms to build next-generation replacements. And now the biggest player in the game is getting involved,” writes Casey Newton, founder and editor of Platformer. “Meta is in the early stages of building a dedicated app for people to post text-based updates.”
Meta has confirmed the development in a statement:
We’re exploring a standalone decentralized social network for sharing text updates. We believe there’s an opportunity for a separate space where creators and public figures can share timely updates about their interests.
Meta spokesperson
The app—codenamed P92—will allow users to log in through their existing Instagram credentials, MoneyControl reports:
Users will initially sign up and log into the P92 app using their Instagram login information and their profile will be populated with their account details (e.g. name, username, bio, profile photo, followers).
Deepsekhar Choudhury and Vikas SN, Moneycontrol
Details about the project are scant, with the product still in its earliest stages. Reportedly, Adam Mosseri, who runs Instagram, is taking the lead on the project.
The most remarkable aspect of the project is that Meta plans for the network to be decentralized. While the company would not elaborate beyond its statement, in a decentralized network individual users are typically able to set up their own, independent servers and set server-specific rules for how content is moderated.
Building a decentralized network could also give Meta the opportunity for its new app to interoperate with other social products — a previously unheard-of gesture from a company known for building some of the most lucrative walled gardens in the industry’s history.
The move comes at a time when Silicon Valley as a whole is re-thinking the value of forcing users into centralized services.
Casey Newton, Platformer
“Some of the other features including tappable links in posts with previews (like Twitter), user bio, username, verification badges, images and videos would be made shareable on the initial versions of the app,” according to the Moneycontrol team.
“It would also allow followers and likes, but it is unclear whether features for commenting and messaging would be there in the first version of the product. However, these will be included eventually.”
With Twitter’s revenue collapsing and the site itself going down for hours now on a regular basis, it’s no surprise that other platforms smell blood in the water.
A decentralized social network with top-notch design and user experience, a functional trust and safety team, and Meta’s skilled growth hackers could be just the thing to disrupt Elon Musk’s ailing, brittle network.
Casey Newton, Platformer
