THE SQUIZ
Meta, the social media giant behind Facebook and Instagram, is officially coming for Twitter. Yesterday, tech reporters began seeing a Twitter-like product called Threads in the app stores. Meta’s new social platform – which you can install now but won’t be operational until early Friday morning – is the latest Twitter replacement to emerge since billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk acquired it for US$44 billion in October last year. Musk has made many changes to Twitter, many of them unpopular, and the site has also faced reliability and safety issues since Musk fired more than 75% of its staff.

WHAT’S MUSK’S RESPONSE?
Look, he could be happier about Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s challenge… A couple of weeks ago when word started to spread about Threads, Musk posted (on Twitter, of course): “I’m sure Earth can’t wait to be exclusively under Zuck’s thumb with no other options.” He also made an offhand remark about a “cage match” against Zuckerberg. The Meta CEO responded with a meme saying “Send Me Location”, and since then, the internet has made it clear it wants the fight between 2 of the world’s richest men to happen. The head of the UFC Dana White says it would be the “biggest fight ever in the history of the world”. And neither side has ruled it out…

SO WHO WILL WIN THE BUSINESS FIGHT?
Good on you for not being distracted by the gimmicks… The showdown between Twitter and Meta’s Threads will be fascinating to watch. Twitter alternatives like Mastodon, Bluesky, and Substack Notes have generated a bit of buzz since Musk’s takeover – but they don’t have the might and money of Meta behind them. And Meta’s not the only tech giant taking on a different field… Reports say TikTok parent company ByteDance is getting into book publishing. That’s got traditional publishers concerned that the mega social media platform might favour its books to go viral on TikTok. It sure is a strange time to be on the interwebs…