Few days ago, we saw how Instagram acquired the power to record and share short videos 15 seconds in your social network, emulating what makes came from a short time ago, looking to keep running in a race where the protagonists are two companies of great weight: Facebook and Twitter.
But this war is not new and in fact, has been going on so long ago that we have to make a small account of the battles that have been fought to date, where more than once one has copied ideas to the other almost instantly, looking to steal the good elements of competition and maintain its own strengths in a competition that I honestly do not know if it makes sense.
Facebook against Twitter
As we said, do not know whether this war makes sense. Because in essence, Twitter is emerging as an information center where short messages instantaneously to 140 characters and low personal profile information data of each author are quite brief, unlike Facebook which produces a “biography” very extensive with updates been long and infinite data about each person who is registered, having space for date of birth, interests, likes art and so on. On Twitter we username, real name, profile picture and you are done.
So I really do not know if the fight between the two is consistent: why racing you someone who does not threaten your business? Despite this, war is declared and it shows when we analyze the actions of each of the companies involved.
As an example, we know that Facebook tries to give a blow to Twitter through the status updates section. In that space began to ask questions, then to involve hash tags, to allow labeling of friends via the symbol “@” … all elements borrowed from Twitter First round.
But why, what do you see Facebook on Twitter who does not like? We do not know and just refer to analyze what we see: that Facebook is taking action to hit Twitter and now, this fight was transferred to different battlefields where phones seem to be key area…
The Fight Goes to the Field of Mobile
Apart from the changes they can make in their web portals, the drama came when social media began to take a couple of years ago for smartphones and tablets, featuring a completely new and separate what happens on desktop PCs.
Here the onus is particularly on Instagram, a service that was able to build a complete social network only phone Apple, Facebook acquired such importance that he was obliged to purchase it, then be going through a crisis in the area of mobile because his bad phone application and a null model that would allow businesses to obtain money from such an environment.
As expected, following the acquisition Twitter responded with nothing less than the extension of its service to upload images with filters “artistic” as Instagram. Facebook became angry and took the stand for the updates on Twitter that would include a link to Instagram, photography show directly integrated in the celestial bird portal Second round.
The third Round
As we said at the beginning, the third round of this conflict arose again with the arrival of a mobile phone application strong. We talk about Vine (owned by Twitter) and its ability to record short videos of six seconds to be shared on your own social network and through Twitter, being able to edit on the fly while recording thanks to a clever system.
And again, Facebook could not stand to him from coming to Twitter good ideas first and simply copied the short video sharing system, using Instagram as a platform, leaving a margin of 15 seconds instead of six, also integrating the power to apply the same filters “artistic” made famous by the service.
Just as happened with short status updates, and labeling hashtags, Facebook was borrowed another idea to integrate it into your social network. And if we are demanding, we might even say that Instagram is a steal at Twitter, and that much of the success of the first independent company when it was rested on the link that users were between the two platforms, a party that ended when Facebook’s integrating acquired and killed.
Facebook Tries to Be Cool…
In short, we do not know what the intentions of Facebook by stealing many ideas from Twitter. We know it is to establish dominance over the competition, with more than twice as registered users, already have and indeed is by far the most used social network on the planet.
Nor does it make sense to believe that in the future Twitter can displace the company Mark Zuckerberg, since both have different goals, and a completely different way of working, so in that sense different rails run almost.
Perhaps the problem here is another. This is a matter of pride and a matter of style. First, jealous that Twitter is taking good ideas that hurt the pride of a company that got stuck in your success and there seems to innovate, while rival on the other path takes good ideas from time to time. Vine’s case is exemplary and has to Instagram as above; with the difference that Mark Zuckerberg could buy with that firm, while I came not and had to blatantly steal the idea.
The question now is: will Twitter innovate enough to be a threat in the long term? Are investors pushing hard for that? Better yet: one day Facebook will buy Twitter?
