Twitter acquires London-based group chat app Sphere

In today’s world, innovation and evolution are the keys to success. With growing scrutiny around ad tracking, companies like Facebook and Twitter are being forced to innovate and find alternate sources of revenue. While Facebook is betting big on the metaverse concept, Twitter has taken a different approach.

Twitter has had a busy 2021 so far. It offers a micro-blogging site for users across the globe and has been working to expand its offerings and become a more comprehensive connection tool as well. In pursuit of this goal, it acquired newsletter platform Revue and web reader platform Scroll earlier this year and rolled out Spaces to rival Clubhouse. Now, marching forward on its expansion plans, the company has acquired Sphere, the London-based eponymous group chats app, in order to bolster its Communities.

The acquisition could help create another topic-focused engagement space on Twitter and boost Communities, making it a more engaging place. The financial details of the deal have not been disclosed. As part of the deal, however, the Sphere app would be closing next month while its team would be absorbed by Twitter.

Sphere, founded by Tomas Halgas and Nick D’Aloisio, is a group chat app that optimizes relevant engagement within each group to help build bonds and maximize engagement. Originally created to help individuals find and share knowledge instantly through the creation of a “global brain,” Sphere said that it realized that some of the most helpful and knowledgeable conversations came from groups where members felt a strong sense of belonging to one another. “In other words, at the heart of our challenge was helping every single person find their community.”

In a blog post, Sphere said that the opportunity was a massive one – while all groups have the potential to become genuine communities, most of them face obstacles such as awkward silences, conversations going off-topic, and vitriol. However, if members feel that their participation is welcomed, the group could transform into a community.

“Today’s announcement means we have the opportunity to take what we’ve learned at Sphere and bring our efforts to a whole new level,” it said.

With this acquisition, Twitter will continue to refine its platform and move away from the idea of just microblogging. The company has already started cashing in on the new features that it has been introducing over the past few months, starting programs like Ticketed Spaces.

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