Tweet Sale?

An excellent, though short, piece on Mashable today about the pros and cons of putting Twitter up for sale.

I am impressed at the lengths Facebook has gone to in their bid to clone/outmaneuver Twitter's features and appeal. FB has made it clear they see a rival in Twitter, and they're interested in being the top dog in Social Networking conversations once again.

I like the suggestion that Twitter sell to a company such as Google or Apple. If they did end up selling to Facebook there's a very good chance their unique service would be buried under the multitude of communication features on Facebook. I enjoy having different conversations on the two networks and worry that Twitter would disappear in such a move. If they were bought by a company that is known for making various, unique web platforms and fostering real development (as is Google) they would gain both the support to become a top social networking service and the security to keep them from being absorbed along the way. It would be nice to see them continue on their own, but the climate is beginning to feel like Facebook is in for the kill and Twitter needs some protection.

Audio Wars

MySpace announced it has acquired music sharing service iLike, which allows users to share songs and playlists over social networks and via a Last.fm-like iTunes plugin. This consolidates MySpace's emphasis on music and bands in their network but interestingly it's also a move to block Facebook invading this territory.

According to the article above, iLike has a music sharing application on Facebook that boasts 10 million users. This chunk of the userbase theoretically will lose access to the application and need a replacement. Seeing as how these users potentially have accounts they've made on iLike that can be ported over to whatever iLike-based application that MySpace creates there's a chance they may take an interest in the network again.

It's a very smart move by MySpace. The few people I know who still prefer the network over Facebook primarily cite its music support. Based on what we've seen so far FB may be content to let their rival keep that userbase but this is clearly a move they need to address as it affects their own service.