Pebble, formerly known as T2 and touted as an alternative to X (Formerly Twitter), has announced its closure as it couldn't keep up with the fast-evolving competition. The micro-blogging startup struggled to gain a foothold in the market, resulting in the decision to shut down.
Low User Numbers Post-Rebranding
Initially, Pebble reached 3,000 daily active users, although this number declined to 1,000 following its rebranding from T2. The tough competition and a crowded landscape of alternative platforms, including Instagram's Threads, open-source-based Mastodon, and Jack Dorsey-backed Bluesky, posed challenges that Pebble couldn't overcome. Its co-founder and CEO, Gabor Cselle, commented, "I didn’t think that quite as many people - established organizations and newcomers - would try to do the same thing that we were doing and in very similar ways."
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Funding Challenges and Closure
Pebble's failure to grow rapidly enough to attract investors' confidence, combined with the intensifying competition, led to its ultimate demise. To fully realise Pebble's potential, the company required more investment and time, which became increasingly challenging given the alternatives in the social media space.
The company has assured its early adopters the option to export their Pebble posts as a zip file. However, Pebble won't redirect its users to Twitter or any other social network. The company is also in the process of returning a portion of the remaining funds to its investors.
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Performance of Elon Musk's X
In stark contrast to Pebble's struggles, X under Elon Musk's leadership is experiencing significant growth. The platform registers around 500 million posts per day and has incentivized content creators with substantial payments, amounting to nearly $20 million. The CEO of X, Linda Yaccarino, has projected that the platform will achieve profitability by early 2024, with expectations of 200-250 million daily active users.
Inputs from IANS
