“Twitter has received expressions of interest from several technology or media companies and may receive a formal bid shortly, sources said,” David Faber and Anita Balakrishnan report for CNBC. “The social media company is engaged in conversations with potential suitors that are said to include Google and Salesforce.com, among other technology companies, sources said.”
“Twitter’s board of directors is said to be largely desirous of a deal, according to people close to the situation, but no sale is imminent,” Faber and Balakrishnan report. “There’s no assurance a deal will materialize, but one source close to the conversations said that they are picking up momentum and could result in a deal before year-end.”
Faber and Balakrishnan report, “Suitors are are said to be interested as much in the data that Twitter generates as its place as a media company.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Twitter is one of the very best places, if not the best, for breaking news. It’s got many other problems, of course (organization, priority, conversation coherence, rampant inanity, etc.), but it is good for breaking news. As it’s also good for generating data, and Google loves nothing more than data, it’s no surprise Google’s interested. Google would likely wreck it and then forget about it as Our Lady of Transitory Endeavor is wont to do, but YouTube at least survives today, so maybe not.
We’d love to see what Apple could do with Twitter in terms of usability. A vast, ready-made social network might be just the thing to teach Apple all they need to know about the subject, which isn’t much (see Ping and Connect, for two examples).
Apple shouldn’t even consider buying such a money loser. As it serves mostly as a celebrity propaganda machine, let Kim and her sisters buy it.
I go to lots of live comedy and it’s great for finding out about shows that are on. It’s a perfect tool for getting information out widely and quickly, whilst also serving as a great way to get quick feedback on things. It’s something that keeps people using devices. As much as anything Apple might be interested to stop others getting it and maybe destroying it.
In other words, twitter offers endless opinion and gossip. There are far better event guides for local comedy shows and platforms for meaningful polling.
It’s time that people recognize how shallow and pointless twitter really is.
If anybody but Apple buys it then it’s done. It will instantly become about maximising revenue from users at every turn. Adverts, mining data, etc etc. Personally I hope Apple buy it, improve security and safety, but don’t make any other major changes (beyond those that would happen anyway). It’s as big as it is because of what it is. Changing it will ruing it completely.
Why would Apple want it? I can’t think of anything that Twitter would add for Apple’s business
Could Twitter be baked into iMessage? One of the benefits of Snapchat, Twitter, etc. is anonymity. If Apple could merge Twitter with iMessage, and also provide privacy levels/features like what Snapchat, Instagram, etc. offers, then it would make iMessage a more compelling service and sell more Apple devices. I’d much rather use a Twitter/Instagram/iMessage service hosted by a secure and trusted Apple instead using Facebook, Snapchat, Google, Creepy Joe’s, etc. servers.
Instagram is Facebook. It’s owned by Facebook
Complete waste of money and time, therefore Google can have it.
Twitter is a dinosaur based on old style dumb or feature phones that were incapable of displaying more that 140 characters. Although brevity can be useful, Twitter’s time has come and gone. The Messages App is a far richer communication platform.
If Google or another ad agency buys up Twitter, I’m dumping it. Tired of these companies making money off of everything I look at and do on the internet (37 tracker/analytic/ads REALLY MacDailyNews?)