Comments on: Where’s the Competition for Twitter? http://www.twitterrati.com/2009/08/14/wheres-the-competition-for-twitter/ The World of Twitter and Microblogging Mon, 04 Jul 2011 15:12:18 +0000 hourly 1 By: Mike Nicholson http://www.twitterrati.com/2009/08/14/wheres-the-competition-for-twitter/comment-page-1/#comment-5863 Mike Nicholson Sun, 16 Aug 2009 00:47:42 +0000 http://www.twitterrati.com/2009/08/14/wheres-the-competition-for-twitter/#comment-5863 I cross-post on several different microblogs via Ping.fm, and it seems like besides Twitter, my next most popular one is Plurk. Posterous is also a relatively new one that many of the PR gurus seem to be flocking to. I cross-post on several different microblogs via Ping.fm, and it seems like besides Twitter, my next most popular one is Plurk. Posterous is also a relatively new one that many of the PR gurus seem to be flocking to.

]]> By: Steve Dodd http://www.twitterrati.com/2009/08/14/wheres-the-competition-for-twitter/comment-page-1/#comment-5805 Steve Dodd Fri, 14 Aug 2009 13:41:19 +0000 http://www.twitterrati.com/2009/08/14/wheres-the-competition-for-twitter/#comment-5805 Interesting question Mark! If Microblogging continues to escalate, and new players jump in to be competitive, then all we'll see is the same thing that happened to the islands created with IM. Then eventually, they'll consolidate by providing interoperability. But, for the IM providers, it was too late. By the time they realized the potential, the users had gone to something else (Twitter?). Twitter, is universal and ubiquitous, that is why it has become so pervasive so quickly. They will likely fix the infrastructure problem. I think others should join it (like Facebook and other user applications are attempting to do) and capitalize on the strength of its concept. Twitter is a one to many communications platform. Applications should be built to capitalize on that platform. Over time, it will grow like the telephone networks did with various providers all sharing a common, interoperable infrastructure. Competition should come from access to the platform and distribution of the messaging, not by trying to replace it. Twitter could provide a similar value proposition for microblogging that RIM originally provided to mobile email. RIM controlled all email traffic to and from RIM devices through it's networks. And when RIM had an outage, the ramifications were (and still are) significant. But, because of competitive technologies, this has now opened up to other providers. If RIM had opened up it's networks to other smartphone and email service providers, we might very well have a different smartphone / mobile email landscape today. Interesting question Mark! If Microblogging continues to escalate, and new players jump in to be competitive, then all we'll see is the same thing that happened to the islands created with IM. Then eventually, they'll consolidate by providing interoperability. But, for the IM providers, it was too late. By the time they realized the potential, the users had gone to something else (Twitter?).

Twitter, is universal and ubiquitous, that is why it has become so pervasive so quickly. They will likely fix the infrastructure problem. I think others should join it (like Facebook and other user applications are attempting to do) and capitalize on the strength of its concept. Twitter is a one to many communications platform. Applications should be built to capitalize on that platform. Over time, it will grow like the telephone networks did with various providers all sharing a common, interoperable infrastructure. Competition should come from access to the platform and distribution of the messaging, not by trying to replace it.

Twitter could provide a similar value proposition for microblogging that RIM originally provided to mobile email. RIM controlled all email traffic to and from RIM devices through it's networks. And when RIM had an outage, the ramifications were (and still are) significant. But, because of competitive technologies, this has now opened up to other providers. If RIM had opened up it's networks to other smartphone and email service providers, we might very well have a different smartphone / mobile email landscape today.

]]> By: markevans http://www.twitterrati.com/2009/08/14/wheres-the-competition-for-twitter/comment-page-1/#comment-5804 markevans Fri, 14 Aug 2009 13:11:12 +0000 http://www.twitterrati.com/2009/08/14/wheres-the-competition-for-twitter/#comment-5804 Mark,<br /><br /><br />You're right. Thanks for jumping into the conversation! Mark,

You're right. Thanks for jumping into the conversation!

]]> By: Mark MacLeod http://www.twitterrati.com/2009/08/14/wheres-the-competition-for-twitter/comment-page-1/#comment-5803 Mark MacLeod Fri, 14 Aug 2009 13:07:09 +0000 http://www.twitterrati.com/2009/08/14/wheres-the-competition-for-twitter/#comment-5803 Mark, you have forgotten about Canada's own Status.net - the folks behind Identica and Laconica. They are just getting going, but the power and leverage of an open source business model will be very powerful. Mark, you have forgotten about Canada's own Status.net – the folks behind Identica and Laconica. They are just getting going, but the power and leverage of an open source business model will be very powerful.

]]> By: Alan Lepofsky http://www.twitterrati.com/2009/08/14/wheres-the-competition-for-twitter/comment-page-1/#comment-5802 Alan Lepofsky Fri, 14 Aug 2009 12:55:35 +0000 http://www.twitterrati.com/2009/08/14/wheres-the-competition-for-twitter/#comment-5802 Mark, I'd love to get you up to speed on Socialtext and Socialtext Signals, as we're winning accounts over the other "enterprise twitters" weekly. <a href="http://www.socialtext.com/products/signals.php" target="_blank">http://www.socialtext.com/products/signals.php</a> Customers don't want "yet another stand alone tool" in their enterprise that does one thing, and that employees must learn. They love how Signals is part of our integrated collaboration (wikis, blogs, etc) and social networking (people) platform. They also love the security and convenience of our appliance running behind their own firewall. Sorry, this was not intended to sound like a commercial, but that is my job :-) Mark, I'd love to get you up to speed on Socialtext and Socialtext Signals, as we're winning accounts over the other "enterprise twitters" weekly. http://www.socialtext.com/products/signals.php

Customers don't want "yet another stand alone tool" in their enterprise that does one thing, and that employees must learn. They love how Signals is part of our integrated collaboration (wikis, blogs, etc) and social networking (people) platform. They also love the security and convenience of our appliance running behind their own firewall.

Sorry, this was not intended to sound like a commercial, but that is my job :-)

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