Meta, the parent company of social media giants Facebook and Instagram, is reportedly developing a decentralized, text-based social network that will support ActivityPub.
According to reports, the upcoming app, codenamed P92 and branded as an Instagram product, will allow users to log in with their existing Instagram credentials.
#MoneycontrolExclusive | Meta plans to bring in a Twitter competitor codenamed 'P92'. The parent company of Facebook is looking to use the data of all the Instagram users regardless of their participation in new platform, reports @chandrarsrikant pic.twitter.com/d2hW1TF3Fc
— CNBC-TV18 (@CNBCTV18Live) March 10, 2023
The P92 team plans to populate users’ profiles with their Instagram account details, such as their name, username, bio, profile photo, and followers, following a “fork” approach in the initial product version.
The app is expected to adhere to Meta’s current privacy policy while also having a supplementary privacy policy and terms of service that specifically address cross-app data sharing.
In recent months, rival platforms like Mastodon, Post.news, and T2 have either launched or gained traction as users look for alternative social media platforms.
It is expected that the minimum viable product (MVP) of Meta’s upcoming text-based social network app, codenamed P92, will allow users to broadcast their posts to people on other servers. However, it’s still unclear whether users will be able to follow and view content from other servers. The development team is still deciding on this feature for the app’s initial version.
The app’s MVP will have several features, including tappable links in posts with previews, user bio, username, and verification badges. Users will also be able to share images and videos, follow other users, and like their posts. However, the development team has not confirmed whether commenting and messaging features will be included in the first version of the product.
The possibility of allowing content to be reshared, similar to Twitter, is being discussed by the development team of Meta. However, this feature may only be available for business and creator accounts.
The MVP will integrate a rights manager for first-party content right from the start, but it may not support third-party content from other apps and servers.
As of now, it is uncertain when the P92 app will be launched. The company has yet to confirm the reports.
The use of decentralized protocols like ActivityPub is seen as a way to address issues with centralization and data privacy that have plagued social media giants like Facebook and Twitter. With the rise of blockchain technology and cryptocurrency, decentralized social networking has gained traction as a possible solution to these problems.