Surprising Shutdown of X alternative Pebble (T2) Announced

Since Elon Musk assumed control of X (previously known as Twitter), the microblogging platform has experienced numerous changes that have largely displeased its users, resulting in a significant departure of users. The elimination of conventional verification methods and the implementation of temporary measures like restricting the number of readable posts, along with the rebranding to X, have compelled many individuals to seek alternative platforms such as Threads, Mastodon, and Bluesky Social. Another microblogging platform, Pebble (formerly T2), was also competing in this race but appears to have fallen behind. Surprisingly, Pebble has recently announced its closure.

Pebble announces closure

T2, a microblogging platform that can provide a “2007 Twitter” vibe according to founder Gabor Cselle, is an emerging social platform founded by former Google and X employees. It was an attempt to recapture what made X special in its early days and build on it to offer users a more classic take on the microblogging platform. While the platform offered promising X-like features to its nearly 20,000 users, the number of daily active users had dropped to 3,000, according to a TechCrunch report. Last month, the T2 was rebranded as Pebble, after which the number of active users dropped further to 1,000.

Now, the platform has announced that it will shut down on November 1, in part due to huge competition from other X alternatives like Bluesky Social, Mastodon, and most recently Instagram’s Threads.

Announcing the move, CEO Cselle wrote to Pebble: “Announcement from the Pebble team: We have some sad news today. Pebble will be shutting down as of November 1, 2023.”

Interestingly, the platform was never freely open to the public and is available by invitation only, like Bluesky Social.

Cselle said: “I think the competition environment developed faster than we had thought. I didn’t think that quite as many people – established organizations and newcomers – would be trying to do the same thing as us and in a very similar way.”

Pebble’s For You feature

The move comes as a shock as the platform last month announced a new For You feature that will enable X. This new feature takes into account four things before the algorithm works its magic. It takes into account whether you follow the account, whether its language is the same as your browser, whether its topic matches your interests and how recent it is. Therefore, its purpose is not only to show trending content, but it tries to bring content that is fresh yet relevant to your feed.