Facebook Steals Major Feature from Twitter - Reach Out and @Someone   - 549 Views,

Summary: Microsoft isn't the only company to be stealing things from rivals this week. And it appears that the data from your Facebook inbox isn't the only thing that Facebook is mining. This week we discovered that Facebook has apparently cribbed Twitter's famous @username protocol for getting someone's attention.

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Microsoft isn’t the only company to be stealing things from rivals this week. And it appears that the data from your Facebook inbox isn’t the only thing that Facebook is mining. This week we discovered that Facebook has apparently cribbed Twitter’s famous @username protocol for getting someone’s attention.

Imagine our surprise to be typing on a friend’s wall, only to have this pop up before we could post our comment:

While Facebook has always allowed you to “tag” someone in a note, the use of @username to do so while typing a public comment on someone’s wall is distinctly Twitterish.

First allowing third parties to mine your Facebook inbox, now blatantly copying Twitter. Clearly Facebook hasn’t taken Google’s corporate mantra to heart.

So, what do you think will happen next?

1. Twitter will sue Facebook for infringement.

2. Facebook will buy Twitter.

3. Twitter will buy Facebook.

4. { Fill in your own prediction. }

Facebook Steals Major Feature from Twitter - Reach Out and @Someone

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Previous Article « Rocky Mountain Bank Accidentally Sends Confidential Customer Info for 1325 Customers to Unknown Gmail Address
Read Next Article » The Newest Scourge: Vacation Reply Messages Used for Spamming

Read more:

»  Why Online Social Networking Sites Like Facebook and Twitter are for Grownups

»  The White House Gets a Twitter Account, Facebook Page, and MySpace Space

»  Twitter to Go Down Tuesday November 17th for Up to 2 Hours

»  Facebook Announces Facebook Chat

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 This article first appeared on 9/24/2009
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