Twitter’s newly lined pockets may have the biggest impact on its chief rival, Facebook. Executives from the two companies often claim that their services do not quite overlap and can peacefully coexist. But both firms are essentially on the same mission: to allow people to share with friends and fans what they are doing now, in real life and on the Web.
Despite their protestations, the companies appear, especially recently, to be taking swipes at each other. Last week, when Facebook announced that it had signed up its 300 millionth member and that its finances were strengthening, executives used the occasion to play down any threat posed by Twitter. Chamath Palihapitiya, a Facebook vice president, told the technology blog VentureBeat that Twitter was now in “the rearview mirror.”
Even more pointedly, earlier this year Facebook redesigned the stream of updates from friends that each user sees to be more of a constant flow of information, similar to Twitter. And earlier this month, Facebook began allowing users to “tag” messages about particular friends with the @ symbol, a familiar convention on Twitter.
For its part, Twitter has previewed a new way to allow people to see when other Twitter users have “retweeted” or relayed their messages. The feature looks eerily similar to the display of friends who have commented on, or indicated that they liked, an update on Facebook.
Twitter’s ascension has clearly clouded Facebook’s aspirations to dominate the market for sharing over the Web, said Keith Rabois, an Internet entrepreneur and vice president of strategy at Slide, a Web social entertainment firm.
“Twitter is so likely to be successful at this point, it is almost impossible to envision a way in which Facebook can truly monopolize online content-sharing,” he said.
Who will win... twitter or FB>>>? heheeheheeee
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