Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) has been trading lower in recent days after hitting highs of more than $51 just over a week ago. A Twitter executive slammed Facebook in an interview with Fast Company, claiming that all the firm wants to do is “dominate, destroy, [and] break things.”
The comments were made by Twitter head of media Chloe Sladden. The comments add some vestige of excitement to what seemed destined to be a less than riveting Twitter IPO. The company has filed its documents for a public offering with the SEC, but it appears to be shying away from the kind of demand-building showmanship that dominated the Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) offering.
Facebook destruction
Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) is the biggest competitor that Twitter has to face, but it might not have always been that way. Facebook actually attempted to buy the company back in 2008, though that offer ended in an even more bitter rivalry between the two.
Twitter and Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) were both bidding for Instagram when the world’s biggest social network snatched up the company for $1 billion earlier this year. Instagram has blocked out sharing photos on Twitter feeds.
In the interview, Sladden said that Twitter is designed to be used with other forms of media, not as a replacement for them. The company does not want to get rid of things like television, it wants to work well alongside them. Sladden says that this idea was radical five years ago, but it’s been one of Twitter’s biggest successes.
“We’ve run away with the TV story. There’s not much competition,” said the Twitter executive. Twitter has built itself up where Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) has not. The company’s second screen strategy is one of the biggest opportunities it has for growth.
Facebook Twitter differences
That’s the major difference between the two companies, and that’s why Sladden thinks that all Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) wants to do is destroy. Facebook wants to turn the media on its head, while Twitter wants to make the current version of the media better.
Twitter will go for an IPO in the coming months and there will be some avid watchers of the move at Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB). The social network is not pushed by the number of users that Twitter has, but the quality of its advertising might draw dollars away from Menlo Park.
