Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter: Where’s the competition gone? - Online Social Media

Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter: Where’s the competition gone?

July 26, 2010 2 Comments

2010 has been a very good year for social networking sites, the likes of Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter has all seen growth. We have to wonder what makes these three stand out against the rest, and where are the rest for that matter?

Charles Arthur from The Guardian has asked a valid question in his article ‘Where have all the social networks gone?’ He decided to take a look into this after Facebook claimed to have new passed the 500 million-user mark. What are these three doing right that the all the others are doing wrong?

Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter: Where’s the competition gone?

The problem is, it is now a daunting task for any social network startup to make the kind of impression it needs to compete in a market dominated by three. What will put them off even more is the fact that MySpace and Bebo – the once giants in social media – has all but failed.

Do not think for one moment that I am saying that MySpace is dead – far from it, but the planned relaunch will need to be something very special. There are a few new social media services on the Internet that has been very well received – FourSquare and Gowalla.

These two services are different from the likes of Facebook, but do offer more interaction and rewards for those using the service. It is hard to say if there is a long-term need for this, or the might of the big three will trample on them as they did with Bebo?

Do you think that a new startup will ever compete with Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter? Do you think that there is a social media service already out there that is ready to take on the giant’s?

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  • asimahm

    I think anything is possible. I mean look at Apple Computers for example, they were once at the top of their game back in the late 80's and beginning of the 90's but than Bill Gates Windows became the new personal computer and computer software powerhouse. Apple didn't rise again until the new millennium, and now they are dominating the technology market once again. All due thanks to a new product and a revolutionary idea that has changed the game which was the iPod. Now Facebook took out MySpace, and MySpace use to be the social media powerhouse. I think it's possible for a new social media platform to become the new Facebook, or the new social media powerhouse as long as it brings out something revolutionary.

  • wecandobiz

    As I said on Charles's blog, the whole web is becoming a Social Web where commenting, collaboration and sharing is expected across all websites, this one included. It helps that we can sign in to do this using identities we have on the mainstream social networks and that our comments get posted back to them. The emphasis is becoming less on what we do on those networks and what those networks enable us to do across the rest of the Social Web.

    Facebook has done a great job of making our accounts on that site portable. As has Twitter to easily tweet our comments or location back to our followers. The weak link is LinkedIn, which was last to add share buttons, share idenity sign in widgets for other sites and all the other bells and whistles which are becoming important and which Facebook and Twitter have had for a long time.

    As all websites will be social the discussion as to whether any social network will match Facebook in scale is less relevant than who will dominate the market for a service you can use to sign in to the Social Web and aggregate all the activity from your contacts across that Social Web. So far, Facebook is streets ahead merely from the fact that it saw the way things would go and has been there providing solutions to website owners and consumers from the start.

    Ian Hendry http://twitter.com/TheIanHendry