What Would a Twitter Sale Mean for Social and Search?

“We love Twitter, and I like to tweet” words that could be attributed to any of the fans who contribute to the 130 million tweets a day. Alas, they are the words of Eric Schmidt, Google CEO, and they could have greater implications for the social and search spheres.

Last week the Wall Street Journal reported that “low-level takeover talks” had taken place between Twitter and Google, Facebook and other interested parties.

This speculation has continued to play out across the blogosphere in the ensuing days, fuelled no doubt by Schmidt’s somewhat non-committal response to the question at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

On the other hand, Twitter’s chief executive, Dick Costolo denied any rumours of a merger with Google. However, the rumours persist but what will they mean for social and search?

“Twitbook or Twoogle”

It is fair to assume that, if either Google or Facebook do eventually win the bid to buy Twitter (should it be available) it would create a major force with issues such as privacy likely to come to the fore.

Dom Barry, head of strategy at homejames commented on the news. He said:

“If Google or Facebook were to buy Twitter it’d create a social media mega-superpower that would be in the driving seat in terms of audience share and influence. The big questions are, will it stifle innovation and competition?  The evolving nature of social media means there will always be new developments and the challenge for Twitbook or Twoogle would be how to innovate and evolve.”

It remains to be seen if any further developments arise from this information.