(Answered)-1. Why does the author feel that Facebook's real competition is - (2025 Updated Original AI-Free Solution

Question

1. 1. Why does the author feel that Facebook?s real competition is Twitter and not MySpace or LinkedIn?
2. 2. What are the similarities and differences between Facebook and Twitter?
3. 3. How is Twitter reacting to the threat of Facebook?
4. 4. Why should Google be worried about Facebook and Twitter?

CASE 1: Facebook vs. Twitter: The
Coming Facebook-Twitter Collision
Every time monthly Web traffic numbers are released, you can
expect at least a half-dozen blogs to run a graph showing
Facebook gaining on MySpace in some made-up social media
war. And as more "adults" join Facebook, the more likely you are
to hear about Facebook threatening LinkedIn.
I have long argued that such comparisons are invalid since these
are three very different sites. They all aim to connect people, but
they go about it in sharply contrasting ways. There is one
company that's on a collision course with Facebook, however. It's
calledTwitter. Heard of it?
Signals of the potential rivalry abound, most recently in
Facebook's redesign, details of which were unveiled on Mar. 4.
One change will let public figures communicate with fans and
followers on Facebook in much the same way they do on Twitter.
Another lets individual users get more regular updates of what
their friends are doing and thinking?similar to the way it's done
on, you guessed it, Twitter. Some industry watchers called the
moves a desperate attempt to mimic Twitter.
I call it preemptive. I had a recent exchange in San Francisco
with a group of Boston College undergrads that illustrates why.
No question these kids like technology; they gave up their spring
break to hang out with Silicon Valley tech types. And yet, a good
number of them just didn't get Twitter. It was one of the only
times I recall where the old person in the room?me?was
explaining the relevance of a new Web technology to younger
people. It's not that they didn't get the point of staying connected

(cue Old Man Stewart shaking his fist). They get it just fine.
That's what they use Facebook for. Facebook's redesign gives
them fewer reasons to try Twitter.
An Eventual Threat?
Sure, Facebook investor and board member Peter Thiel can try to
damp enthusiasm for Twitter by saying Facebook is eyeing lots of
acquisitions. But there's a reason Facebook was hungry enough
for Twitter that it offered $500 million in stock and cash to a
company with a small staff and no revenue?in the middle of a
recession.
And there's a reason Twitter didn't take it. Twitter knows it's just
getting started, and it is the closest thing to an eventual threat.
It would have been like Facebook taking Viacom (VIA) up on its
$750 million offer or accepting $1 billion from Yahoo! (YHOO)
back in 2006.
When I last spoke to Twitter founder and CEO Evan Williams, he
coyly told me he was nowhere near done building out Twitter as
a service or a business and that he has a clear vision for both.
He's not going into a lot of detail, but I can tell you it has a lot to
do with the real-time news feed that Twitter has become; there's
also a lot of potential in the way Twitter lets you search for
information on the Web in real time?not at some fixed point in
the Web's recent past. With a fresh round of capital in the bank,
and all the hype in the world at his back, why would he sell now?
Remember, Williams already went down that road with Blogger,
and quickly left the acquirer Google (GOOG) as soon as his
lockup expired. He's not someone who likes working for other
people, and he made enough from pre-initial public offering
options in Google that he doesn't have to.

Advantages to Each
There are some key differences between the sites. It's far easier
to find people on Facebook. Most of the time you can tell if it's
actually them. Facebook also has more capacity for sharing
videos and photos without forcing you to link out to other
applications.
One of Twitter's greatest advantages lies in its so-called
asynchronous nature. Relationships with others go one-way on
Twitter. Someone can choose to "follow" you to get your updates,
but you don't have to follow them. That simple distinction allows
for a range of possibilities in what people can do on the site. For
instance, a celebrity can broadcast to fans but only follow the
people he or she really knows. Facebook's recent changes make
it easier for a celebrity or company or organization to build this
kind of one-way communication, but if I want to be friends with
an individual, that person still needs to accept my friend request.
So Twitter still holds an advantage as far as individuals are
concerned.
Another important Twitter feature lies in its stellar search
technology?bought from Summize, a small company in
Washington, D.C.?that allows you to track real-time
conversations outside your network.
To be fair, Twitter and Facebook are on a slow collision course.
This is not a zero-sum game. A lot of people will use both sites,
and there are a good many people in the world who still aren't on
either. Facebook has about 150 million users, compared with
Twitter's 6 million. Both companies are wise to focus on their
own products and markets and less on competing with each
other. Indeed, they complement each other in key ways. You can

update your Facebook status from Twitter, and arguably Twitter
gets a marketing platform every time someone's Twitter stream
spills over onto their Facebook News Feed.
In the near term, it's Google that should be more worried about
both. If the last round of the Web was about organizing
information, Web 2.0 is about organizing people. The Googlebacked OpenSocial initiative that creates a common coding
language for social media sites and their developers isn't going
to cut it. Neither did Jaiku, a Twitter cloneGoogle bought and
recently shut down. Maybe the possible threat explains why
Google CEO Eric Schmidt on Mar. 3 called Twitter "poor man's email."
I see that coming back to haunt him. My hunch is Twitter
represents a lot more than that. And if anyone wants a shot at
beating Facebook at its own game, Twitter is the property to get
you there.