Credit: Lia Haberman
It is all unravelling before our eyes; Meta continues to put together a new app that will rival Twitter. Codenamed P92 or Barcelona, the standalone app is set to debut this summer.
Meta has been working secretly on this new app, but has now confirmed in a statement to Money Control what P92 is all about: “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.”
According to author of social media newsletter ICYMI, Lia Haberman, Barcelona will use similar community guidelines as Instagram. Users will be able to log-in with their Instagram credentials, blocks and hidden words from Instagram will carry over, and some safety features will be embedded from start.
Citing sources, Haberman said texts posts will be up to 500 characters, and users can also upload photos, links and videos up to five minutes long. Similarly to the way it works in Twitter and other apps, there will be a feed where you can like, reply or repost content.
According to reliable reverse engineer @alexa193a, the app is a new text-based social network. It has a temporary badge that lets your followers know you are on Barcelona and send them to your profile if they have the app installed on their device.
@alexa193a first tweeted about the app sometimes in March, and his latest update only shows that Instagram is already testing it.
While Twitter already has apps like Mastodon and Bluesky to deal with, Barcelona poses a different kind of threat considering Instagram’s popularity and huge userbase.
Twitter has not really improved since ownership changed hands in 2022, and the imminent release of Instagram’s new standalone app may pose a major threat to Elon Musk and his team.
In other news, Instagram has updated its comment section with a new feature that allows you to post GIFs. The announcement was made in a Broadcast Channels chat by Adam Mosseri held with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
Mosseri, in the chat said that you can now post GIFs in Instagram comments. Depending on the way you see this new update, this could either get you upset or excited; but does it really change anything?
You can now search and share Giphy GIFs in the comment stream, which provides another way to reply to an Instagram post. The update is now available on the Instagram app, and accessible to all users.
