 |
|
| CURRENT SECTION :: News | |
|
 |
People using both of the websites in new ways, as has been seen in recent days, could compel the owners of Facebook and Twitter to restart initial talks on joining forces. Negotiations between the two darlings of Web 2.0 cooled last week, putting off what would have been the first major consolidation between the leading social networks. Yet both before and after the talks stalled, mainly due to frowns from Twitter about Facebook’s implied price of $15bn, each site was seen taking on a new dimension. Twitter, often home to 140-word accounts of what executives are doing or thinking, became the central channel for eyewitness accounts of the terror attacks in Mumbai. People posted missing person notices, requests for blood donors and, also in the shape of ‘tweets’ on the site, security updates from and for those hiding in hotel rooms. At the same time, social networks, particularly FlickR, YouTube and Wikipedia, were reportedly named as the newest, two-way channel for companies to engage investors. In a report from financial consultants Hallvarsson& Halvarsson, about 25% of 150 European corporates said they had used LinkedIn and Facebook for such interaction. On Wikipedia, companies said they added and edited information; on YouTube, they uploaded videos, while other sites were used by shareholders looking for opinions, the Financial Times reported. However, a lack of aim, publicly at least, from Facebook to secure the top brass is a potential deterrent to Twitter, which could kick-start its revenues with a business service. Analysts at Ovum also said a Facebook-Twitter tie-up could be a “mismatch” because the former pursues an advertising business model, while the latter has shown the strategy no interest. “Twitter would certainly be a nice addition to Facebook’s stable, but it isn’t necessarily going to take Facebook into new revenue-generating markets,” added Ovum analyst Madan Sheina. “Rather than grab a company that has yet to make a cent, a bigger revenue opportunity for Facebook would be to either compete with or acquire LinkedIn. “However, the fear of Twitter falling into the hands of a rival like Google or Yahoo might well be enough to justify another swoop by Facebook at a later date.” Dec 2, 2008 Email this article Printer friendly page Previous Page
|
|
  |
||||||||||||||||||||||||
| All content © Contractor UK Limited | http://www.contractoruk.com/lists/?p=subscribe&id=1[Register for News Letter] | [Privacy Statement] | [Terms of Use] | [Top of Page] |