Meta is developing a Twitter alternative

After rumors swirled for a while, Meta has confirmed its working on developing a new social network.

After rumors went around last month that Meta would launch a competitor to Twitter, this has essentially been confirmed by the company. According to Meta, it’s “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.” If that sounds a lot like Twitter, that’s because it is a lot like Twitter.

An app researcher by the name of Alessandro Paluzzi shared some images of the in-development platform on, you guessed it, Twitter, and called the new social network like ‘Instagram for your thoughts’ which would be, well, Twitter. Meta isn’t coming out and saying that the company is trying to challenge Twitter, but it only makes sense. Especially considering the social media ecosystem Meta already controls in Facebook and Instagram. If Meta could offer something like Twitter, it would fold in neatly with the brand’s other platform.

How exactly Meta’s take on a new social network will work is still up in the air, though. As of now, everything is still relatively early days. The basic idea is that you’ll be able to share your thoughts through text posts, and you’ll be able to follow other users to stay on top of whenever they post something new. Much like Twitter, Meta’s platform will have a relatively strict character limit that’s currently said to be around 500 characters.

While social media companies getting bigger and more powerful isn’t exactly the best news, Twitter has seemed to be in constant chaos for a while now. And if you could access a similar service from within the context of, say, the Instagram app, well, that certainly may make a lot of people switch.