An AP story today about changes coming to the Facebook service is quite interesting:
Facebook: Taking a cue from Twitter in sharing?
The popular online hangout Facebook is revamping its home page and plans other changes so its millions of users can more easily choose the types of information they see.
Perhaps taking a cue from Twitter, the rising service for letting people express themselves in 140 characters or less and keep up with what celebrities have to say, Facebook said Wednesday it will let users follow public figures like President Barack Obama and swimmer Michael Phelps, bands like U2 and even institutions like The New York Times….
….Beginning next Wednesday, Facebook will also launch a redesigned home page that lets users receive continuous updates from their friends instead of every 10 or 15 minutes….
…Facebook will also tweak its central feature, the status update, which now invites people to broadcast to their friends a response to “What are you doing right now?”….Facebook’s new question, “What’s on your mind?,” may encourage people to dig deeper into their subconscious and post more entertaining updates
OK. So here’s how it seems to be shaping up.
Microsoft, still the biggest company in the space, is obsessed with Google. Google is obsessed with Facebook. Facebook is obsessed with Twitter.
So what is Twitter obsessed with?!
At this point, my guess is – Twitter. Or rather, just building the company, hiring the right folks, keeping the service up, and fighting back all the inbound requests for a piece of their mojo. Twitter is tiny compared to Facebook, which is tiny compared to Google, which is small compared to Microsoft. Oh, if only I had some Illustrator skills, I’d make me quite a graphic…
(Update, this image sort of does it for me, if you like it, buy the postcard on Zazzle.)