Messaging Apps Encroach on Facebook Turf

April 11, 2013

Shifting communication habits strike again. Yahoo News declares, “Youth Flock to Mobile Messaging Apps, May Be Threat to Facebook.” There are now a number of apps (like Kik and Whatsapp) that facilitate messaging and sharing faster and easier than by going through Facebook on a smartphone. Not surprisingly, these have become popular with the youth demographic. How does one search in a meaningful way these types of content objects? Answer: With a great deal of effort.

Writers Gerry Shih and Alexei Oreskovic concede that most users of these apps aren’t going to close out their Facebook accounts anytime soon, and that the social giant is well-positioned to weather threats. Still, these challengers could see noteworthy success, especially as they encroach on the networking-platform territory. The article tells us:

“While established social networks move to incorporate messaging features, the new-wave messaging apps are looking to grow into social networking platforms that support a variety of features and enable innovations from outside developers.

“‘The tried and true approach for a social network is first you build a network, then you build apps on your own, then you open it up to third party developers,’ said Charles Hudson, a partner at early stage venture capital firm SoftTech VC.

“The moves mirror Facebook’s younger days, when its user growth and revenues were boosted by game publishers like Zynga Inc, which made popular games like FarmVille for the Facebook platform.”

Ah, but when Zuckerberg began, he was building something completely new. Can these contenders serve up something as unique before the giant can pivot?

See the article for more analysis of the issue. The writers conclude with their prediction: that Facebook and the other “established” players (Google+? LinkedIn?) will solve the problem by simply gobbling up the young app companies. That would indeed solve the problem.

Cynthia Murrell, April 11, 2013

Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext

Written by Stephen E. Arnold · Filed Under Applications, Facebook, News

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Stephen E. Arnold monitors search, content processing, text mining and related topics from his high-tech nerve center in rural Kentucky. He tries to winnow the goose feathers from the giblets. He works with colleagues worldwide to make this Web log useful to those who want to go "beyond search". Contact him at sa [at] arnoldit.com. His Web site with additional information about search is arnoldit.com.