social med Archive

Last month I refreshed a post from 2007 where I noted that solely building a company on top of another company’s service could lead to big issues down the road. In 2007 it was with regards to Flock and the more recent version dealt with companies building services on top of Twitter. I ended both posts with the following statement:

So here is my advice. Build your own app. Leverage other technology where it makes sense but don’t put all your eggs in someone else’s basket. And if you do, understand that your position can change in an instant.

Yesterday the tech blogs were all excited because the Twitter execs publicly announced that advertising won’t be their revenue focus. Instead they will be building tools that will be available as paid upgrades for businesses who want to communicate with their customers. Zee at Next Web has a good writeup of the announcement.

So what happens now to companies like Tweetdeck, CoTweet, etc? Will Twitter make sure not to build tools that overlap with what these external services offer? Will Twitter aquire some of these services and offer them as paid options? If I were at any of the companies who have built their entire structure on Twitter, I’d be looking for specific written guidance from Twitter about their plans. This way the companies can make adjustments if needed before it’s too late.

It’s easy to say that all of the companies can still exist even if Twitter creates tools that overlap what these third-party companies offer. But which tools will be promoted? Which tools will be officially-supported? The third-party services will need to stay WAY ahead of what Twitter offers and will continue to move forward if they have any chance of keeping the momentum.

Tim Marman at NY-based Notches has a good post describing the difference between being a planet company and a satellite company.