Zuckerberg Thinks He Can Run Twitter Better

Okay, okay. Technically not Twitter, but a platform like Twitter. 🐤

A new report indicates that billionaire Mark Zuckerberg, the owner of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, is planning to create a social network platform that would be similar to Twitter.

The news comes at the heels of an earlier development, where Facebook and Instagram began rolling out a subscription model that was eerily similar to the one Elon Musk introduced at Twitter to make some cash. While experts are quite positive about Facebook/Instagram's take on the whole "pay for a verified checkmark on your profile" model, the same could not be said about Twitter, which has struggled to become anything more than what it already was: a place for internet beef. But also, an audience that is vocal about anything and everything (not that it's a bad thing, but it can often result in internet bullying and harassment online).

So what gives? Well, apparently, big boy Zuck knows how to monetize social media more than Elon Musk does. It's true that Musk made his initial fortune by facilitating payments over the internet through a startup that ultimately ended up becoming PayPal, but knowing the internet and knowing how the internet works are two separate things. Musk proceeded from PayPal to other avenues that were more engineering focused, and should largely be considered a new entrant in the social media space as far as the business side of it is concerned.

Mark Zuckerberg, though..

Say what you will of Zuck and his ambition to rule the world with VR, but the guy knows what business model works when it comes to social media. In fact, the report that disclosed Meta's plan to create a Twitter knockoff, also noted that  a single daily active user on Meta represented over $40 in revenue, more than double that of $16 per Twitter user.

Anyway, Facebook was the talk of the town this week, ranking at the #1 spot on HackerNoon's Tech Company Rankings, while Instagram was trailing behind at #2. Meta, the parent of both companies, was trending at the #75 spot.

Dissidents Tighten Noose Around Google CEO 🎃

Remember the absolute sh*t show that was Google's Bard, the chatbot that was seemingly expected to counter rival Microsoft's ChatGPT? Well, that failure is coming to haunt CEO Sundar Pichai.

The stellar success of ChatGPT means tech giants are scrambling to figure out how to monetize artificial intelligence. Microsoft's figured it all out, rolling AI into its products and even incorporating it into its search engine Bing in what it hopes would be a formidable challenge to Google's dominance on the internet.

But Microsoft hasn't hurt Google nearly as much as Google has hurt itself, and dissidents blame one person for causing all the harm: Pichai.

A new report from Forbes says Pichai's dissidents are using his aversion for risk and slow decision-making to argue that he is unfit to lead Google at a time when it's going through an existential crisis. In fact, Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin — who handed the reins to Pichai in 2019 — have returned and started taking a more active approach in the company's battle to remain relevant, attending AI strategy meetings and even helping with the code in some instances.

“I think everybody agrees he [Pichai] will be gone. The question is just how long from now?” a former Google director (whose name was not disclosed in the report), was quoted as saying. Ouch!

Google ranked #3 this week, while Microsoft ranked in the #71 spot.

Amazon Challenging Musk's Dominance Too 🌎

Mark Zuckerberg isn't the only billionaire fighting on Elon Musk's turf. Jeff Bezos' Amazon thinks it can give SpaceX’s Starlink a run for its money, launching its own version of low-Earth orbit-based satellite internet in an industry that is dominated by Musk's company.

Code-named Project Kuiper, Amazon's marketing material says its devices would bring "fast, affordable broadband to customers and communities around the world." They're still in the prototype stage, though.

It's unclear how much the devices will cost, but Amazon said they cost less than $400 per unit to build, so that threshold might be an indicator. Expect more details in the future.

Amazon ranked #8 this week.

In Other News.. 📰

• Your money is (probably) safe. The U.S. government has stepped in to ensure that all deposits at Silicon Valley Bank, which collapsed last week, remain accessible. SVB was one of the tech industry’s top banks, and the fallout from its collapse has affected a ton of companies. Full list here.
• TikTok was banned on government phones in yet another country: Belgium.
• Crypto lender Silvergate has shut down.
• Google is still not out of the AI game.

And that's a wrap! Don't forget to share this newsletter with your family and friends!

See y'all next week. PEACE! ☮️

— Sheharyar Khan, Editor, Business Tech @ HackerNoon