14 DAY TRIAL // Facebook is slowly becoming more open, by its standards anyway, encouraging its users to post more public information and launching a new search thus making it easier to find content rather than profiles. All of these changes came rather reluctantly and they were mostly spurred by Twitter's rise. And now the social network is getting even more friendly with the microblogging service by allowing Facebook Page owners to syndicate their updates to Twitter automatically.
“Public figures, musicians, businesses and organizations of all types who've created Facebook Pages often want to share a status update, a photo or an event with as many of their supporters as possible. Celebrities may want to share personal news or charities may want to put out calls for help to both their Facebook fans and their Twitter followers, all at the same time,” Facebook's Michael Gummelt wrote.
The feature was actually foretold several weeks ago when a mysterious tweet popped up coming from a – then unreleased – Facebook native app codenamed Penguin FB. The social network kept quiet but now it's clear that it was part of the new functionality just introduced.
The new native app allows users with a Facebook Page, like brands, celebrities or organizations, to share their posts, photos, events or whatever it is they are publishing automatically on Twitter as well as on the social network by installing the new app on their Pages. Users can decide what content to push and, if they manage multiple Facebook Pages, they can link the different Pages to different Twitter accounts. The updates will show a small excerpt from the post and a Bit.ly shortened link to the original content.
The move has a much bigger significance than just the feature itself as it is a reversal of the usual way the information flows between Twitter and Facebook as the social network has been very reluctant in moving traffic away from its site. While it's only available for Page owners for now, this alone could make Facebook a big contributor to Twitter. However, if and when the social network decides to open up the functionality for all users, even if picked up by a small percentage of its user base, Facebook may very well become the biggest third-party app on Twitter.