Supposedly Facebook has recently dressed up to attend a black tie event. This event was invite only and I did not get an invite. Supposedly Twitter was invited as well and chose to unfashionably wear Chuck Taylors? If you were as confused as I was when I first read this article then you have come to right place. What makeup and dress clothes are being spoken about, when did Facebook get dressed up? All I have seen over the past few months is a company that disregards Wall Street norms in so many different ways. Zuckerberg plays his own game resulting in a traumatized stock price, long-term investors jumping ship, and a retail investor on the hunt for his scalp. Have you ever heard of the creme de la creme of a sector come to market and destroy the whole sector? Well you hadn’t until Facebook Faceplant came about. Had Facebook truly dressed themselves up, we would not be in the predicament we are in. No, Facebook has not dressed up, in fact, they continue to play by their own rules, which may be one of the reasons why they prevail into the future against all lousy expectations.
I argue that Twitter is more likely to fall by the wayside MySpace than Facebook. For example, the time required to set up a Facebook profile and building that identity is not an event that happens overnight. This identity building journey is a summation of years. That is why Facebook created the timeline, to allow users to tell their life story. Obviously they are trying to make Facebook a pillar on which we convey our life, dreams, and past experiences. In turn making it a substantial attribute of our day-to-day in the 21st century. Anyone who has used Twitter knows that they have a spam issues that they have failed to fix. Anyone who uses Facebook knows that they have a “like” issue they are currently dealing with. The list of faults goes on, but to say that one may be better than the other at this point, now that’s questionable, especially in regards to the critiques our expert raised.
Another issue that the article raised was in reference to businesses and how Twitter lends itself to helping businesses be more successful. Of course this failed to mention the fact that small businesses can flourish via Facebook. I personally know many small businesses that have utilized Facebook to the betterment of their overall business. I have seen large businesses utilize the Facebook platform successfully as well. Just ask the execs at Red Bull how life is in their Facebook world, they would most likely reply that Facebook gave them the wings necessary to fly even higher. In regards to advertising, do you really think that tweet from Starbucks results in me buying an extra frappe? Come on now. I am more likely to look at an eye-catching advertisement on Facebook than Twitter any day. Why you ask? The experience that Facebook ads offer allows them to easily catch the attention of the viewer. The page full of information and the experience that a Facebook page lends the user, garners the interest of the public much more than a twitter profile any day. Not only that, but the vast information that Facebook has compiled lends them the upper hand in any monetizing game between the giants.
From an investing standpoint, all we care about is the monetizing potential of the product.
In the previously mentioned article, this fellow implies that he uses Twitter. That’s great, I use Twitter also. Has anyone thought for a second that he may be the exception to the rule? That his personal relationship with the product should not summarize the whole market for that of Facebook or Twitter. Maybe he works in the markets or marketing, spending a lot of time on Twitter due to his career. I never buy or sell a stock based solely off of one personal experience. I do take my personal experiences and expand on them, ensuring they are a sound investment. Yes, when Zillow became public, I had interest in the company due to my experience with it. Though I did not put my money where my mouth was until I had taken my personal experience and dug down with research. At the end of the day making investment choices because your personal experiences suggest that it will be the right call is mere tom foolery, your personal experience may result in being the exception to the rule, resulting in you loosing an exceptional amount of money.
If you think of Twitter as the most relevant news source, being one of the few sites that allows for instant gratification, do you really not think that Facebook will run a similar scheme? Obviously if it works, is profitable, everyone is going to implement it. So don’t think for a second that if twitter become the source for news and entertainment, that Facebook won’t do it better tomorrow.
By summarizing his point he implies that Facebook will die in 10, 15, or 20 years and Twitter will remain relevant. Are you kidding me? Who’s to say that twitter will remain relevant in the next 20 years. He implies Twitter does not need to change? Really? Ask Apple if they ever needed to change, and they would reply, change or die. Ask any technology company today and they would all reply change or die. Who’s to say a better alternative to Twitter won’t come around. Who’s to say that alternative isn’t Facebook itself. So Twitter supposedly will prevail because it’s “in” and used by the younger generation? You’re correct, Facebook will fail because my mom uses it and all her friends. It will fail because Wall Street hates them. They will fail because the have a massive user base. Blah blah, we have heard it all before. Even if Facebook falls by the wayside, which it may, have you ever heard of Google? Yes, that giant company that transformed themselves into something much, much more than a search giant. So if you sold because of the said article, not only are you foolish, you fail to see the potential. So you keep thinking that since Facebook doesn’t have a FaceDeck the end is near. A social media company is about the entire user experience, the connections, the way real world relationships are advanced through technology, and Facebook has had a monopoly on that for nearly a decade.
He finished his article suggesting that if Twitter has an issue monetizing itself, it can easily be solved with the help of LinkedIn. Last time I checked all social media companies are having an issue monetizing their sites. So in fact Twitter and Facebook are in the same boat. In fact Facebook and Twitter offer two different forms of social media. In fact they both can survive and prosper because they have developed their own niche. Though many of you wouldn’t understand the niche that each of these companies sit in, because the closest thing you are getting to the younger generation is referencing it.
Photo by carrotcreative
