Well, I got a bit head of myself thinking that Facebook opening status updates in the API would spell the end of twitter. Not that I thought the Twitter community could be dispanded by this, but perhaps a twitter clone or something resembling it could be built on top of the Facebook platform.
So I go and register fbtwitter.com, then get to work on reading the API and doing some tests using the Facebook developer page. I promptly hit a brick wall:
- You can’t seem to see the status updates of others unless they’re your friend
- Multiple people can have the same name, so unless fbtwitter.com let’s people pick and locally store yet another username, getting someones attention with @”Brian Hogg” would go to any number of Facebook users
- Thanks to 1., you can’t get a public timeline of all status updates, so trying to see trends in what people are talking about right now goes out the window.
Not to mention that adding people you don’t know is a big faux pas on Facebook, while completely normal (and sometimes annoying) on Twitter. On the plus side, you could do things like Direct Messages relatively easily.
With the tools that surround Twitter, and the openness of their API, I can’t see Facebook destroying Twitter. Ever. Agreed?
Update: Facebook’s new design is quite Twitter-esque, but still a closed circle of updates…
Agreed.
If they do try to become just like Twitter though, then Twitter is in trouble. FB’s user base is just so much greater.
It would be interesting if FB ever turned that way… would FB’s userbase, as big as they are, really go for it?