Following last week’s bombshell news that Snapchat turned down a $3B offer from Facebook, Ben Thompson just wrote a brilliant post on his blog about the different social networks out there and how each fits a different purpose for users. Here are 2 excerpts from his post:
In the last two days I have used 10 apps you might characterize as “social”. In no particular order:
- Twitter, for keeping up on news and commenting on tech and stratechery
- Facebook, for posting personal status updates and checking in
- LINE, for text messaging with my wife and friends in Taiwan
- Snapchat, for exchanging photos with my wife
- Skype, for instant messaging with my colleagues
- Facetime, for talking with my wife and kids
- Instagram, for posting cool photos
- Email, for all types of content, both work and personal
- Photostream, for sharing photos with my family
- WordPress, for posting to this blog
…
Look again at my list of apps: each of them has their own place… In fact, there is hardly any overlap at all – and none with Facebook.
Ben then continues to argue that Facebook should stop trying to buy startups like Snapchat, which don’t contribute to their potential “gold mine” of a display business.
What do you think? As a social marketer, are you finding that your audiences have barely any overlap with Facebook, and is ignoring them the right strategy?