It's a good thing Facebook's not buying Twitter

Twitter and Facebook seem like a nice match, don't they. It was no surprise that rumors started about a Facebook acquisition of Twitter. It was hardly a shocker when the rumors turned out to be true.

But it's good that the talks fell apart. (Story source: Kara Swisher: When Twitter met Facebook.)

From the outside, it looks like Facebook and Twitter could be happy social stablemates. Facebook has its own Twitter-like function, but it's not the core of the service. Twitter gets its users talking, but doesn't have the robust social features of Facebook. Melding Twitter into Facebook would give the larger company, Facebook, access to one of the most interesting and vibrant new social mediums, and it likely wouldn't put out the Twitter users too much.

But when it comes to business philosophies, the companies do not mesh. And I'm not just talking about the well-reported SMS expense that Facebook would take on if it integrated Twitter. More than that, Twitter's stated revenue plans don't work for Facebook.

While Twitter has yet to launch any monetization experiments, the plan, according to Twitter's Evan Williams, is to find a way to charge corporate users for business services.

This adds up to a double mismatch for Facebook. First, Facebook is not pitched as corporate or business communications service. It could become that, I would argue, and could compete with LinkedIn, or even acquire it. That's a bigger opportunity, revenue-wise, than a Twitter acquisition, and would take up resources that might otherwise be used to incorporate Twitter into the fold.

Second, Facebook knows how to experiment with revenue models. Twitter does not. Facebook sells electronic micro-gifts and has tried different forms of advertising. Twitter: Nothing, not even an online store for plush toy Fail Whales. Facebook should demand more from a company it plans to sink $100 million of cash in to than a clever product that's never been put to the test of generating a dime. Twitter may be hot, but it is, so far, not a business. Facebook is a business.

However, it would be good for Facebook to take Twitter off the market so another company--Google, perhaps, or a wireless carrier--doesn't snap it up. But even given that, I believe Facebook has better opportunities ahead of it than what Twitter offers.

See also:
11 Twitter business models: Vote for the best,
Mashable: Since Twitter Won't Sell, Who Should Facebook Buy?
CNET News Daily Debrief: Twitter this--why do a Facebook deal?

[mjconver]

Twitter has no value, it's less than a commodity. The kind of people who care whether other people in their network are going to lunch are the same morons who buy Style magazine in the check-out line when Brittney Spears forgets to wear her underwear leaving the club. Since twitter has no ad space to include with the "articles", it has no value.

[tm_anon]

Twitter has huge value as a communication device. If a Twitter page were taken by a business for example, instead of huge press releases to get the word out slowly via news stations for whatever new service is being provided, putting up a tweet about it allows everyone following this company to see the news right away. Because of the way this is setup in Twitter, if utilized properly by Facebook, this could in fact allow for huge revenue streams. Put up a Twitter section on Facebook and allow companies to buy a certain number of Tweets per month to go out to the Facebook users. Allow customization of that Twitter application in Facebook by the individual users in a way that would allow them to Tweet their friends and they'll pay attention to what's in that Twitter section. Allow the users to pay to opt out of recieving the Tweet ads by removing their names from the main list and there's yet another revenue stream. In short, Twitter could not only have allowed Facebook to grow to a point where they become the Google equivalent of the social sites, but it could have allowed them such luxuries as customized backgrounds for individual users, among other things.

[I_C_E]

Facebook should manage their incredible business- acquisitions of this scope are a distraction- it puts to much pressure on every decision of how to incorporate Twitter - there becomes this new mental obligation to put (another huge question mark) it in the mix of all go forward strategy- its a great buy for a mobile manufacturer/ carrier then license to the other manufacturers/carriers - if you cant twit would you buy the phone?

I have a great rev model for twitter-

Need a piece of the action though to give it up!

Have a great Holiday -

[WeCanDoBIZ]

Surely Facebook needs to acquire a business that brings a vlid revenue model with it; NOT yet another way to spew cash while everyone sits around scratching their heads staring at a blank business plan.

Ian Hendry
CEO, WeCanDo.BIZ
http://www.wecando.biz