Facebook is certainly proving to be a dynamic competitor. This could well "bring Twitter to the masses" in a way that Twitter has so far struggled to do.
That said, Twitter itself is on the cusp of achieving this.
And then again, Twitter's quiet unfollow is an important feature of keeping Twitter usable. If someone is overly noisy on Twitter, I can unfollow them. If they do the same on Facebook, what then? Unfriend them? Unlikely.
Say goodbye to Twitter spam, say hello to Facebook status spam.
Right now, the main problem with Facebook's message feature is that it is only available to friends as you addressed. You won't want to unfriend somebody because they post too much; if you unfriend, you also lose access to their photos, contact information, and it is also publicaly seen.
Along with the new homepage layout, the most important feature Facebook is adding is the one way follow for celebrity figures. This is very important; it will allow regular users to see the benefits of an individual sharing things about their lives. I believe that Facebook is using these celebrity accounts to sell users on opening up and sharing more information.
I expect one way follows to become open to all Facebook users in the future. Your Facebook account will have two sides: the public information sharing (Twitteresque chatter, links to articles, etc) and the entire profile.
They have to tread carefully, however. Facebook's root is in allowing only those within your network or friend circle to view your information. It will take a dramatic shift in the user's view of their information. If they can succeed, however, I think that Twitter will not be sustainable in the long run.
Well, it seems that web's ultimate battle is going to be for who owns/controls/manages the social graph.
I don't know where that battle is going but I very hope that it will go in the direction of an open/multi-polar solutions.
One antidote to FaceBook/twitter/whoever-owns-everything would be if Open Social or some other solution let any website plug social features and announcements in.
Facebook is certainly proving to be a dynamic competitor. This could well "bring Twitter to the masses" in a way that Twitter has so far struggled to do.
That said, Twitter itself is on the cusp of achieving this.
And then again, Twitter's quiet unfollow is an important feature of keeping Twitter usable. If someone is overly noisy on Twitter, I can unfollow them. If they do the same on Facebook, what then? Unfriend them? Unlikely.
Say goodbye to Twitter spam, say hello to Facebook status spam.