Two weeks ago, TechCrunch broke the news that LinkedIn was getting into games, helping users “deepen relationships” through puzzle-based interactions. And on Wednesday, TechCrunch reported that the Microsoft-owned social network was experimenting with short-form videos.
It’s as if LinkedIn is targeting a whole new “type” of user — one caught in limbo somewhere between two other well-known social networks.
Wordle’s viral growth kicked off on Twitter, leading the New York Times to dole out a reported seven-figure sum for the web-based word game.
And TikTok is well past the billion-user mark, recently becoming the first non-game app to hit $10 billion in consumer spending, all for short-form video.
Splintering
Ever since Elon Musk bought Twitter in 2022 and changed its name to X, things haven’t quite been the same — latest figures suggest that in the U.S. alone, daily users of the app formerly known as Twitter have fallen by nearly a quarter in the months since becoming a plaything for one of the world’s wealthiest individuals.
Federated competitors like Mastodon and Bluesky have jostled for mindshare among ex-X users, and the mighty Meta has thrown its hat into the ring with Threads. But this disaggregation has left millions jumping half-heartedly between myriad different social networks, not quite sure where they should be hanging out.
TikTok can be likened to a next-gen version of Twitter, replete with short-form content, influencers, hashtags, and trending topics — an obvious place to jump in some regards, but it’s simply too alien for many of those that grew up on Twitter.
Like just about every successful social network, Twitter grew organically — a combination of the right people, at the right time, with the right backers, and the right technology to make it a scalable product in the hands of millions. It’s not possible to lift-and-shift that community onto a new platform at the drop of a hat, and the audience splintering we’
