Facebook Isn’t Going to Kill Twitter
The big news is that Facebook has opened its API so that status updates will be able to exist outside of the walled garden. AllFacebook.com sensationalistically says “Say Goodbye to Twitter.” Yep, they got me to link to them with their sensational linkbait. (sigh)
AllFacebook obviously has a bias—they’re a blog all about Facebook. I have a bias too—I predicted 2009 would be a big year for Twitter. And I’m sticking by my originally prediction, even in the face of this Facebook news.
There’s already a lot of great (and smart) pushback in the comments over at AllFacebook, which I’ll just summarize here:
- CoryS makes two great points: 1) “the one-to-many platform of Twitter [is] not reliant on a dual approval to get ‘following’” (which constrasts with Facebook that is reliant on dual approval). He says this limits the kind of “viral broadcasting” that happens on Twitter and “can’t happen the same way on FB.” 2) “Not everyone has 2k+ followers on FB to get a viral comment going the same as Twitter.” True, but I only have 512 “followers” on Twitter, compared to 932 “friends” on FB.
- J simply says, “If FB thought this change would kill Twitter, why would they have bothered offering Twitter $500M in stock?” Good question. Answer: The value of Twitter is its userbase.
- Miguel Armaza agrees, “What makes [Twitter] a unique website are its users!”
- Paul Warren doesn’t mince words: “Facebook following the leaders again. Fail.” I agree: This doesn’t look like innovation, it looks like an attempt to catch up with the leader in the microblogging/status updating space.
Interestingly, the general concensus among commenters on AllFacebook is that the Facebook/Twitter differentiation goes something like this:
- “FB = inner circle; Twitter = public party.”
- “Facebook is more personal and Twitter is information overload”
Here’s my take: Twitter is a different userbase. Some of my Facebook friends have begun to get interested in Twitter and join in the fun, but the vast majority of them are not going to dive into the constant stream of information that is Twitter. I think they are happy with the level of interactivity that Facebook provides, reading and commenting on each other’s profiles (inside the walled garden of Facebook), and the wild wooly world of Twitter is just a bit “too much” for most of them. As Matt Stempeck writes, “[Twitter is] a more intense experience to monitor and take part in than Facebook is.”
And that’s fine. Nothing wrong with that. I’m not criticizing, I’m just pointing out the flawed logic in thinking that this announcement from Facebook is going to change the game of Twitter.
There’s also the “first to market” thing. Twitter wasn’t necessarily the “first” to create a microblogging/status updating platform, but they quickly rose to the top, outlasting several other competitors, and now it dominates the space. Facebook had status updates first, but it was trapped inside the big blue lockbox (until now). And now it’s too late, I predict, for Facebook to catch up. Twitter has developed its own network, its own community, its own unique experience.
So I stand by my prediction: 2009 is still going to be a big year for Twitter.
UPDATE: It seems more people are beginning to use Plurk (in addition, or instead of, Twitter). Honestly I don’t see Plurk surpassing Twitter. One of the main reasons is because Twitter is called Twitter, and, well, Plurk is called Plurk. I mean, Plurk sounds like Barf, right? As in, “I feel like plurking” or “I think I’m gonna plurk.” Not good. Just a random thought I had …
Comments
December 31st, 1969 at 11:59 pm
RT @knightopia: Just Posted: “Facebook Isn’t Going to Kill Twitter” – http://is.gd/iUIN – please retweet
December 31st, 1969 at 11:59 pm
“Facebook Isn?t Going to Kill Twitter “http://tinyurl.com/bxvpls
February 9th, 2009 at 9:50 am
I am an avid FB and Twitter user. I have refused to sync my twitter with my FB status updates b/c I like to express myself in different venues. My twitter conversation is a different context than my FB friends, though they share some of the same people.
Twitter and FB status updates can both be “bulletin” type forms of expression, however, twitter can morph into a conversation.
My random thought = this only matter to people like me who live in front of the laptop.
February 9th, 2009 at 10:34 am
For quite a while I had no use for Twitter, until I realized I didn’t really have to answer the question about what I was doing. I now use it as a sort of personalized news feed. I know some people don’t like this approach, but no one has to follow me on Twitter. I use my Facebook to tell friends what I’m up to.
February 9th, 2009 at 1:42 pm
Hey Steve, good thoughts. If 2009 is to be a big year for Twitter, it’s going to have to reach a critical mass, and I have a hard time figuring out how it’s going to do that. I, like you, have tons more “followers/friends” in FB, and I think that will always be the case for a few reasons.
First, Facebook has multimedia baked in. To get multimedia out of Twitter you have to link out to another service, usually using a shortened URL. Shortened URLs scare people.
Second, most casual internetters (the people who would need to use Twitter to reach the critical mass) have one track minds. They don’t all browse with tabs. They don’t all like changing windows. And they don’t all like to read. Facebook tricks them into reading with its pictures, videos, pieces of flair, little green patches, etc. etc. Facebook is TV+, Twitter is the newspaper with links to pictures.
Third, the ease of interactivity isn’t quite there yet with Twitter. I know how to send direct messages, retweet, and reply to messages, but for my wife or kids to do it, I would have to train them. Not so on FB. It’s more intuitive. I didn’t have to tell my wife or kids how to use Facebook. They were FBing like pros minutes after setting up their accounts. This is not an insignificant fact.
So, Twitter might be great for infosluts like us, but not for casual surfers. I agree with you and also don’t think FB will kill Twitter, primarily because those fighting for Twitter do so on principle. But will it get better than FB? Not soon. Not without a good business model, and it’s not going to get that business model without an audience.
February 9th, 2009 at 1:47 pm
One more point – Let’s not forget the voyeur/exhibitionist tendencies that people have which are much better served on FB. I follow Dave Winer for example on Twitter. Many times, he’s having conversations with people via Twitter that I am only privy to half of. That doesn’t happen on FB. If FB notifies me of the conversation (through its black-box algorithm), I can easily see the rest of the conversation, and easily add my own two cents.
February 9th, 2009 at 2:12 pm
Just to clarify, Eli, I’m not saying Twitter is going to “kill” Facebook either. I’m simply saying that Facebook is not going to “kill” Twitter by opening up the status update API. I think what you’re saying about Facebook is correct.
I’m a big fan of Facebook, don’t get me wrong. It is super-intuitive. It’s an RSS reader for all of my friends who don’t have a clue what an RSS reader is. And it’s a blog to all of my friends who don’t have a clue what a blog is. Facebook takes that stuff and makes it intuitive and use-able for so many people, which is great.
At the end of the day, Twitter has carved out its own niche, with its own audience/userbase, and I think it’s going to continue to grow and gain that mainstream audience. I could be wrong, though, also. Time will tell …
February 10th, 2009 at 7:49 am
Eli,
“infosluts”
Brilliant!
February 11th, 2009 at 12:40 pm
FB and Twitter serve different purposes for me. Facebook is for people I actually KNOW. Know to varying degrees, but know. I can put up information about my family and my job on FB and feel like there is an audience of people who know me and know my family and have context.
Twitter, on the other hand, is my public voice and ear. My friends and family don’t twitter. Of the 90 people I follow, I’ve met 2 of them. My followers haven’t met me either. Twitter is a chance to learn from interesting people and do my best to be interesting in return. No family stuff, no job stuff; t’s too public. My heart is still out there on Twitter, but not so much the names and addresses.
March 18th, 2009 at 3:49 pm
I just noticed you included one of my comments in your article. That’s cool, thanks. follow me on Twitter: @globalresident
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