Twitter recently introduced a new button for companies to add to their websites that allows visitors to privately message an individual or a company directly from its website.

It’s a direct response to Facebook’s expansion of its Messenger capability where the platform has been moving to make its chat app the default way consumers interact with businesses. While Twitter has largely been viewed as the primary social platform where customers complain, the function potentially gives brands the ability to minimize negative public sentiment on its platform. Though the update is yet to be made available for the majority of users, the announcement is a step in the right direction for the bird.
Fortunately for the social marketplace, the two platforms have been playing chess for quite some time and it doesn’t appear to be ending anytime soon as the following day, Facebook was back in the news as the platform will begin tighter integration with What’s App.

Facebook completed its purchase of What’s App in the final quarter of 2014 for 19 billion dollars but Thursday’s news was the first major announcement since the acquisition. On Thursday, WhatsApp updated its privacy policy to announce that it will now begin sharing users account information but not their messages with Facebook. When you consider that Facebook is the largest social media network and WhatsApp is the largest mobile messaging network, the integration possibilities become very interesting. The acquisition of the data should provide brands with deeper targeting opportunities on Facebook and Instagram. It also marks a continued step in the evolution of commercial messaging from businesses.
Many marketers have wondered how social media would continue to evolve its marketing offerings as SMS marketing has established itself as a viable alternative to social, however, the idea of commercial messaging from brands to consumers now expands Facebook’s offering and it will only be a matter of time before Twitter responds.

Also published on Medium.