Numerous changes have hit, or will hit, Facebook recently. Most of them point to a determined attempt to undermine the buzz surrounding Twitter. Change is good, but Facebook has lost self-awareness.
Changes like the new “News Feed” that looks exactly like a Twitter homepage or making status updates fully public won’t cripple Facebook. Not entirely, at least. But it could slow its cinema-friendly rise.
Facebook trying to stretch from social network into the micro-blogging space could leave some users’ status updates full of question marks. Why? Because people use the two services for far different reasons.
Twitter, without any substantial privacy controls, is usually completely public. No one has to follow you to see your most recent tweets. Twitter is a short-form broadcast medium.
Facebook holds photos, videos, profile information, contact information, which character from The Hills you are, wall posts and a list of friends. There are dozens of different privacy configurations. Facebook is a profile site.
Sure, Facebook has status messages and can make them public, eroding Twitter’s domination of the too-busy-to-blog-but-want-someone-to-hear-me market. But why? Or why would they let someone become a fan of your profile, blurring the already murky distinction between profiles and pages?
Unwarranted fear.
Facebook is at the top of its game, the largest social network and still growing quickly. But the buzz they had two years ago has given way to Twitter. Instead of solidifying their place in the world of online profiles, Facebook is knee-jerk-reacting to any fluctuations.
It’s work trying to increase data portability and adopt the Real-Time web is commendable but they’ve had setbacks. Claiming ownership of their users’ content, or creating a useless, cluttered homepage are two off the top of my head.
Companies have a real use for users’ data and Facebook has given companies many different ways to access them. Unfortunately, they have yet to generate a revenue model with any of it. Most will say Facebook trying different things is a good thing.
That most of those “different things” are inspired by (or copied from) Twitter makes you wonder how little effort goes into improving the Facebook product. For more about Facebook’s swiping of features, read this article and attached “10 ways Facebook is Copying Twitter.”
How long until they open themselves up entirely and no one has to visit Facebook to access it? At what point do they dismantle their only real credibility (active users) and end up with nothing to show for it? (Except maybe the title of Myspace 2.0.)
Photo courtesy NewsTechZilla
Tags: data portability, digital reputation management, online, social tools