Alejandro Arrieche
As expected, Twitter’s spat with its thousands of employees is already causing multiple unwanted ripple effects including the creation of rival applications by insiders who have both the knowledge and experience to build Twitter-like applications.
This is the case of Alphonzo Terrell, the former head of Social & Editorial at the micro-blogging site who decided to develop a social application called Spill that recently raised $2.75 million from private investors during a pre-seed round.
The funding round was led by the Kapor Center, an initiative that seeks to remove the barriers for minorities who often struggle to make it in the startup space, and MaC Venture Capital.
Also read: 10 Best Crypto VC Firms & Web3 Funds 2023
“We are excited that Spill aims to address major challenges created by existing social media platforms and utilize technology to build more diverse, equitable, and inclusive online communities”, commented Allison Scott, the CEO of the Kapor Center in regards to their investment in Spill.
The company plans to use the money to increase its headcount. It is currently hiring software and machine learning engineers and a Head of Community & Partnerships.
Spill Plans to Leverage the Rising Meme Culture and Use Web3 Tech
Spill’s marketing experience gives him the required skillset to understand what users are looking for in a social media app considering the many flaws that Twitter has – both before and after Musk’s takeover – such as forcing users to read tweets from people they don’t know and shadow-banning accounts.
The goal of Spill is to leverage meme culture to create a space where people can safely share news and start discussions about certain topics. Some of the features that are already being incorporated into the prototype include tools to add text to both images and GIFs easily so they can be used to communicate an idea or thought.
“We’re really leaning into meme culture, making it easier to put text on images or gifs — little touches and tweaks like that have been really exciting”, the former Twitter exec told TechCrunch recently.
Meanwhile, the platform aims to incorporate blockchain technology to the extent that content can be somehow copyrighted so creators can be compensated for publications that go viral such as dances, memes, or trends.
In regards to the use of web3 technology, Terrell clarified that Spill is not a “crypto company”. Instead, he clarified that “the use of blockchain is for both crediting creators and setting up a model for us to compensate them automatically. If they have a spill that goes viral and we monetize it, it’s really effective”.
A total of 60,000 Spill handles – usernames – have reportedly been reserved already. Those who would like to enroll in the platform can go to the official Spill website to reserve a handle now. Terrell expects to launch an alpha version of the app in the first quarter of this year.
Its not Just Disgruntled Employees Who Are Competing Against Twitter
Laid-off workers such as Terrell are not the only threat to Twitter’s long-standing reign in the micro-blogging space during the Musk era as other platforms that were flying under the radar are now seeing the user bases explode as a result of the changes introduced by the founder of Tesla (TSLA).
One of the most prominent examples of this is Mastodon, a decentralized Twitter-like app that allows users to participate in servers that focus on certain subjects of discussion, a specific region of the world, or a language.
Mastodon offers a level of customization that Twitter does not as users within the platform founded by Jack Dorsey can have a difficult time finding people that share their interests.
In contrast, the non-profit and open-source social media app founded by Eugen Rochko offers users the chance to hand-pick what kind of content they would like to get exposure to instead of having to be bombarded by suggestions made up by an algorithm to increase engagement and usage.
Other Related Articles:
- Mastodon is Growing As a Result of Twitter’s Mistakes
- Many Third-Party Twitter Clients Start Offloading Their Apps
- Why Elon Musk Will Likely Lose ‘Funding Secured’ Tweet Trial?
This article was written for Business 2 Community by Alejandro Arrieche.
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