Instagram Is Working On New App To Rival Twitter: Report

Source: SOPA Images / Getty / Instagram

With Twitter still on a path to self-destruction thanks to Elon Musk, Instagram is looking to offer people a substitute. The Verge reports Instagram is working on its own text-based social media component that aims to be a direct competitor to Twitter, according to Social and Influencer Marketing teacher Lia Haberman. Via her ICYMI Substack newsletter, she shared a screenshot of a marketing slide detailing the new app.

According to the slide, the new app has no name and is just “Instagram’s new text-based app for conversations.” Haberman reports it is codenamed P92 and Barcelona. Users can sign in using their current Instagram username and password, and their bio, IG handle, followers, and verification status will transfer over. Per The Verge:

In the app, you’ll see a feed, and you can make text posts up to 500 characters long with attached links, photos, and videos.

The app looks pretty much like if you mixed Instagram and Twitter together, based on two screenshots included in the leaked marketing slide. And Meta will apparently have some good moderation controls from the start, “equipping you with settings to control who can reply to you and mention your account,” the slide says. Any accounts you’ve blocked on Instagram will apparently carry over.

Per the slide, the new Instagram App will feature some form of decentralization, noting, “Soon, our app will be compatible with certain other apps like Mastodon.”

Instagram Suffered A Serious Service Outage

No one asked for this new app, but okay. But it would also be nice if Meta made sure Instagram works appropriately. On Sunday, the popular photo-sharing app turned TikTok clone was down “for a couple of hours,” according to The Verge. Timelines did not refresh, and users were receiving error messages when refreshing them. If you hit Instagram via the website, it only loads a blank page. “Earlier today, a technical issue caused some people to have trouble accessing Instagram. We resolved the issue as quickly as possible for everyone who was impacted, and we’re sorry for any disruption this has caused,” Meta spokesperson Dave Arnold told The Verge in an email following the service outage. Like any time Instagram is down, social media (Twitter) has plenty of jokes because nothing is serious on that app. You can see the jokes in the gallery below. — Photo: SOPA Images / Getty