The dot.com bubble famously burst on 10 March, 2000. But news of Twitter’s $10 billion valuation suggests there’s still a bit of loose change floating out there in cyberspace.
Google and Facebook are said to be interested in purchasing their micro-blogging rival, and if either were to successfully broker a deal it would change the face social media as we know it.You could argue that a joint login for your Facebook and Twitter accounts would be a helpful timesaver. But then there is something slightly unpleasant about a monopoly ownership on social thought. And the two companies do seem to have uncomplementary approaches to their business dealings. Perhaps not a great match.
If Google were to takeover Twitter however, and it does have enough spare cash to make the purchase without really thinking about it, this monopoly would be avoided. But it would mean that the company that started out as a humble search engine would control access to YouTube, Blogger, Twitter and pretty much the rest of the internet not owned by Mark Zuckerberg: again, not a particularly attractive prospect.
So, although it is an interesting news piece and the resultant over-analysis can be fun to wade through, I hope Twitter stays independent. It may not be raking in the cash like its two main suitors (and that’s despite the multi-billion dollar price tag) but it retains a charm the other two cannot hope to replicate. For now, at least…
