Twitter is ‘Following’ in Facebook’s Footsteps
Posted: Friday 03 June, 2011
Emilie Legrand
This week, Twitter launched its Follow button for businesses, brands and celebrities. Similar to the Facebook Like button that often appears on a brand’s webpage, Twitter’s Follow button will allow users to instantly follow the person or company in question without leaving the site.
Previously there was a click-through option that stated ‘Follow us on Twitter’ which served the same purpose but meant that the user was then directed away from the website and instead taken to Twitter. The Follow button differs in that it allows the user to follow a brand or company, without leaving the website or platform they are currently on (provided you are logged in).
It can sometimes be difficult for brands to leverage their social media profiles without steering users away from websites; however the Follow button will take this problem away, seamlessly integrating a brand with its social media. With Facebook introducing it’s Like button to alleviate said problem, it was only a matter of time before Twitter followed in its footsteps.
As well as the introduction of the Follow button, an additional change being made to Twitter this week is the roll out of email notifications when someone @replies to you and when someone you follow retweets or favourites one of your tweets. Additionally, Twitter also announced last week that it was buying the Tweetdeck app, as well as announcing plans to launch a new photo sharing service to compete with the likes of Twitpics and Instagram. All these new developments reflect the great steps that Twitter is making towards improving its functionality and it seems to be working with brands and users responding positively; over 50 websites introducing the Follow button within a matter of hours.
