Amidst a battle between social media rivals, Meta eyes counterattacks

Some market entrants, both large and small in the social media sphere, are feeling the competitive threat of Meta now more than ever since the rate of growth in digital advertising is slowing.

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Data.ai, a machine learning company, reported that TikTok maintained the title of most popular app download worldwide in the first quarter of 2023, after racking up more than 186 million downloads in the first quarter of 2022.

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Despite TikTok's popularity, its future is still uncertain as Congress is considering the possibility of banning the app in the U.S. A potential ban in the U.S. would be a major win for Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, who has a competing feature on Instagram called Reels.

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In an attempt to boost its short-form video monetization, Meta introduced new features to its Reels ads earlier this week and also turned off its "in-stream reserve" ads, which were targeted at advertisers as a more affordable alternative to TV commercials.

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Then there was BeReal, the social media phenomenon that swept the nation last year. With the rise of younger consumers who are attracted to the authenticity of the app, the app has shot up in popularity. However, VIP+ argued in September that although BeReal looked promising at the time, it would likely suffer a similar fate to Clubhouse, which was once one of the hottest audio apps of all time.

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Those doubts seem to have been correct as of this point in 2023, and that is an encouraging sign. In the third quarter of 2022, BeReal's popularity peaked. However, since then, its popularity has declined sharply. Sadly for BeReal, a report was made last month that Meta was developing its own version of "Roll Call" in its Messenger app, which seems to be a copycat of BeReal's.

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Twitter is another social media company that seems to be in turmoil at the moment. Since Twitter was taken private by Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla Motors, in October 2022, it has been on a rollercoaster ride like no other. A serious management problem has been identified, employees have resigned and been let go in droves, and consumers are becoming increasingly frustrated with the user experience that is provided. Among those announcements, Musk announced on Monday that only verified accounts paying for the platform's services would be promoted in its "For You" section on the platform.

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While many people are concerned about Twitter's current stability, the platform is still retaining the majority of its users despite all of the problems. In spite of consumer threats to ditch Twitter in recent months because of its negative reputation in the media, data.ai believes Twitter's downloads have shown resilience in recent months.

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As Twitter holds a considerable share of the social media market, the recent troubles that the company has been experiencing are presenting a great opportunity for Meta. Meta confirmed earlier this month that it is exploring the possibility of becoming a Twitter competitor. There is a plan by Meta to create a separate platform for sharing text updates and doing so in a timely manner, despite not specifically mentioning Twitter.

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The challenges that Facebook's rivals face provide Zuckerberg with a prime opportunity, and he has already shown that he is not wasting time capitalizing on their problems.