A few weeks ago, Facebook added a feature that allows for users to tag other users in their status updates. This is big news for Facebook in their never ending attempt to compete with the unstoppable growth of Twitter. After all, Twitter’s huge competitive advantage was always in the exclusivity of their user-generated content and the ability for users to converse with others directly using @ mentions. Now, since Facebook was able to copy those implementations, Facebook seems to be, once again, winning this battle.
At first, Facebook didn’t know what to do to combat the imminent growth of Twitter. Twitter was just so fascinating and all too fun for the techies around the world. Although most people still used both applications, Twitter gained immediate attention from popular media outlets and celebrities.
The recent @ tagging within Facebook isn’t the first step Facebook has taken in their attempt to halt Twitter’s success. A few months ago, Facebook acquired the popular microblogging feed site, Friendfeed. Shortly thereafter, Facebook opened up search capabilities that allow users to search keywords throughout their friends’ and all of Facebook’s status updates. This, in a sense, was the start of Facebook’s regained supremacy.
After three years of operation, we still don’t know how Twitter is going to make money. We know that they are worth a lot of money, but only to the bigger companies that want to buy them out. I have a feeling that Facebook will do anything in their power to remain on top of Twitter and become a multi-faceted platform that offers just about anything else that may gain popularity. Facebook is fortunate enough to have the liberties to do such things over and over again.
Winner = Facebook (At least for right now)