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Pebble (social network)

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Pebble
Company typePrivate
Industryinternet, social media
FoundedNovember 2022
FounderSarah Oh and Gabor Cselle
DefunctNovember 1, 2023 (2023-11-01)
Websitepebble.is (defunct)
pebble.social (successor)

Pebble (formerly T2) was an American social media platform founded by former Twitter employees Sarah Oh and Gabor Cselle.[1][2][3] It provided an authenticated network where users could make posts and interact in communities before shutting down on 1 November 2023.[1][4]

One day before the shutdown, Cselle launched a Mastodon instance of the same name. It closely resembles the look and feel of the old site.[5]

Background

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Prior to founding T2, Cselle oversaw the incubation of new consumer products in Google’s since-shuttered Area 120 incubator.[6] Cselle had also been a Group Product Manager at Twitter from 2014 to 2016,[7][8] where he worked on the consumer product, and relaunched Twitter’s logged-out homepage[9] and mobile trends.[10] Sarah Oh had previously worked as an executive in Trust and Safety at Twitter and Facebook.[1][11] On the day Oh was laid off from twitter, Cselle called her to offer his condolences, and to offer Oh a position at T2 to aid in creating a new social media platform.[12]

Cselle announced the development of T2 in November 2022.[13][14]

In early 2023, T2 hired former Discord Senior Director of Engineering Michael Greer as its chief technology officer.[15]

On 15 September 2023, the platform was rebranded as Pebble.[16]

On 24 October 2023, the platform announced its shutdown on 1 November 2023, approximately one year since it started.[4]

On 30 October 2023, Cselle launched the mastodon-instance pebble.social.[17]

Platform

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Pebble was one of several social media platforms conceived as an alternative to X (formerly Twitter) after its takeover by Elon Musk.[18][19][20] The platform allowed 280 characters on user posts.[13][11] Cselle expressed a desire to keep the platform as similar to the original Twitter platform as possible.[21][22][12] It also emphasized security and safety features such as user authentication.[11][18]

Pebble's moderation was planned to make use of both human review and artificial intelligence features.[15]

On 25 April 2023, the platform's invite system launched, allowing its current community of around 1,000 users to invite their friends to the service instead of requiring users to join a waitlist. Each member of the platform was allowed up to 5 invites with the ability to request more invites if required. The platform was a web-based app only.[15]

Pebble offered checkmark verification, similar to X. Verification was done through Persona and a $5 charge is invoiced to offset the cost of verification. Unlike rival X Blue, the payment is one-time.

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References

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  1. ^ a b c Levy, Steven. "Startup T2 Wants to Terminate Twitter". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved 2023-02-24.
  2. ^ "Ex-Tweeps Bet Social Media Is Ready for 'Something New'". Bloomberg.com. 2023-02-16. Retrieved 2023-02-24.
  3. ^ Hines, Kristi (2023-04-29). "Twitter Alternatives: Can These Emerging Microblogging Networks Succeed?". Search Engine Journal. Retrieved 2023-05-17.
  4. ^ a b Perez, Sarah (2023-10-24). "Pebble, the Twitter alternative previously known as T2, is shutting down". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2023-11-01.
  5. ^ We Distribute (3 November 2023): Pebble Shuts Down…But Starts a Mastodon Instance?
  6. ^ Lunden, Ingrid (2022-11-09). "Google and Twitter veteran maps out a Twitter alternative". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2023-02-24.
  7. ^ Huang, Kalley (2022-12-07). "Twitter's Rivals Try to Capitalize on Musk-Induced Chaos". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-02-24.
  8. ^ "Twitter drama too much? Mastodon, others emerge as options". AP NEWS. 2022-11-12. Retrieved 2023-02-24.
  9. ^ Beck, Martin (2015-04-15). "Twitter Flips Switch On New Homepage For People Who Aren't Logged In". MarTech. Retrieved 2023-02-24.
  10. ^ "Twitter Continues Its Quest for Mass Appeal With Trending Topic Descriptions". The Street. 2015-04-08.
  11. ^ a b c Korn, Jennifer (2023-02-13). "Twitter is stumbling. Some ex-employees are launching rivals". CNN. Retrieved 2023-02-24.
  12. ^ a b Pardes, Arielle (2023-04-28). "Copy and Kill: The Ex-Tweeps Hatching a Plan to Knock Off Twitter". The Information. Retrieved 2023-05-05.
  13. ^ a b Dutta, Nishitha (2023-01-13). "Twitter Alternative 'T2 Social' raises its first outside funding, $1.1M". Qwitter. Retrieved 2023-02-24.
  14. ^ Lunden, Ingrid (2023-01-12). "Twitter rival 'T2' raises its first outside funding, $1.1M from a group of high-profile angels". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2023-02-24.
  15. ^ a b c Perez, Sarah (2023-04-25). "Twitter alternative T2 readies expansion with launch of invites system". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2023-05-17.
  16. ^ TechCrunch (18 September 2023): Twitter/X rival T2 rebrands as ‘Pebble,’ saying the old name was never meant to be permanent.
  17. ^ We Distribute (3 November 2023): Pebble Shuts Down…But Starts a Mastodon Instance?
  18. ^ a b "Elon Musk's chaotic reign boosts Twitter — and its smaller rivals". Financial Times. 2022-11-18. Retrieved 2023-02-24.
  19. ^ "Looking for Twitter alternatives not owned by Elon Musk? Here are some options". Fortune. 2022-11-12. Retrieved 2023-02-24.
  20. ^ "How to download your Twitter archive and save your tweets". Simplemost. 2022-11-22. Retrieved 2023-02-24.
  21. ^ "Analysis | A Look at the Gold Rush to Become the New Twitter". Washington Post. 2022-12-28. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2023-02-24.
  22. ^ "A planned Twitter alternative dubbed 'T2' just raised $1.1 million". Tubefilter. 2023-01-13. Retrieved 2023-02-24.
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