"Twitter has won that race already." But they're still not generating revenue, right? IT's all VC. It's won the race for an ecosystem of users, but isn't making its own profits on top... yet. I'd say it's still racing. Far ahead of facebook in its simplicity and openness (it's public, and has a fantastic API and a whole host of complimentors) but it's still running. - Zach Beauvais from FriendFeed MT Plugin

@Alex - I wrote a detailed post (see URL link) about the difference between public and private status culture that highlights the differences in relationship structure and how it affects the community that is very relevant to this conversation. To your point, I don't think that Facebook need chase Twitter - people are happy to use both - one for personal (Facebook = I know you offline) and one for public status (Twitter = Public connections). Already apps like Tweetdeck are integrating functionality for the overlap, so it seems that Facebook still wins the status game (we need not chose one or the other). Twitter is for people who are comfortable venturing outside the protective walls of Facebook, and you're right; they are very different. Great post, great points. - Steffan Antonas from FriendFeed MT Plugin