As Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ:META) gears up to launch its Twitter rival, Elon Musk’s successor Linda Yaccarino has accepted the challenge with a resounding battle cry.
On Sunday, Yaccarino, the new CEO of Twitter, responded to a news report about Meta’s soon-to-launch decentralized text-based social media platform, codenamed “P92” and now goes with the name “Barcelona.”
The microblogging site’s new chief appeared ready for some competition by the Mark Zuckerberg–led company and responded with just two words on Twitter, “Game on!”
Twitter was launched on March 21, 2006, as it was founded by Jack Dorsey, Noah Glass, Biz Williams, and Evan Williams.
Dorsey was an undergrad at NYU introducing the idea of an SMS service to communicate with a small group.
Facebook’s origins were at Harvard University where Zuckerberg was an undergrad where he worked on the new social media platform with the Winklevoss twins. It resulted in a legal disputes between Zuckerberg and the Winklevoss twins and their friend Divya Narendra.
The article in question Yaccarino quote tweeted was about Meta-owned Instagram preparing to launch its decentralized social network in the summer of this year. Meta reportedly shared some screenshots of the new app with a limited number of creators, including Lia Haberman.
“Based on a (somewhat blurry) example I got, Meta’s new app looks a lot like Twitter,” said Lia Habermana, social and influencer marketing professor at UCLA. “So, could this take over all the Twitter screenshots we’ve been seeing on the Feed lately? Maybe. It’s impossible to predict how audiences will respond, but this could be an alternative.”
Yaccarino was previously the chairman of global advertising and partnership at Comcast Corporation’s NBCUniversal. She played a crucial role in launching the ad-supported streaming service Peacock.
Before Yaccarino, Musk also took some potshots at Meta’s Twitter rival. The tech billionaire, who acquired Twitter in October 2022 for $44 billion, mocked Zuckerberg for considering launching a rival and called him a “copy cat.”
In December 2022, it was first reported that Meta was scheming to take away Twitter’s “bread and butter.”
Previously, social media consultant Matt Navarra stated that Meta’s upcoming Twitter rival would function as a standalone app but would be integrated with Instagram.
Simply put, users will be able to keep their existing handles and passwords. Users’ followers will also receive a notification to follow them on “Barcelona.”
After Twitter was losing users after Musk’s take-over of the social media giant, Meta was exploring a new platform for text update in order to compete with Twitter.
Meta officials later stated that they “believed there’s an opportunity for a separate space where creators and public figures can share timely updates about their interests.”
It targeted to launch the platform sometime during the summer.
Produced in association with Benzinga
