According to Moneycontrol, which first reported about the project in March, this up and coming project even has some code names; P92, Project 92, and Barcelona, and will be integrated with Instagram where users will be able to log in to the network using their Instagram handle. Intriguing….
The project is being led by Instagram’s top executive, Adam Mosseri.
This isn’t the first text-based feature Meta has introduced more to the Instagram ecosystem in the last several months. In December, Instagram launched “Notes,” which let users share short statuses in DMs. And in February, Instagram introduced “Broadcast Channels” where select users can send one-way DMs to followers.
In a recent prototype shared by Alessandro Paluzzi, an Italian mobile developer who reverse engineers Instagram code to reveal internal tests, it appears that Meta is using the tagline “Instagram for your thoughts” while it continues to develop P92.
So where does the Twitter alternative vibe come in? Well a spokesperson for Meta told Insider last week; “we believe there’s an opportunity for a separate space where creators and public figures can share timely updates about their interests”. Timely updates? Interests? Public figures? It smells like a Tweet to me…
Daniel Morgan, a senior portfolio manager at Synovus Trust, believes Meta is in a good position to take this challenge on. “It’s a better idea than a lot of other things that have come out of Meta recently,” Morgan said. “It’s a great opportunity for them to fill that void with Twitter going through such a transition.”
“This could be another leg to the Meta story in terms of monetizing subscribers,” Morgan added. “They’re trying to monetize reels, that’s their next big leg. This new product — Barcelona, whatever you want to call it — there’s definitely an appetite for it.”
At the same time, it does pose challenges and Meta shouldn’t get ahead of itself just yet. “The biggest challenge for this new product would be to try to offset some of the weaknesses that occurred with Twitter, which was the fact that engagement time was so limited” Morgan concluded.
