Can the Twitter / Facebook / eBay Spell Ever Be Broken?

Whether we like it or not, sites like eBay, Twitter & Facebook rule our lives. I bet there isn't one person on this site who doesn't use at least one of those sites every day.

I was reading this morning that Louise Mensch was so sick of the abuse she was getting on Twitter than she has set up her own social networking site to rival it. Is she dreaming? Is there any way the Twitter grip can be broken?

Same for Facebook and eBay, will they just continue to get bigger until they rule the world? Can anyone compete?

The answer is yes, This is what people were saying about Friendster before there was MySpace and then MySpace before there was Facebook etc etc.

I don't think there's a service out there that will beat twitter.

I've been on twitter since 2007, amazed it took so long to take off.

Facebook on the other hand i joined fairly recently, within the last couple of years and i have to say it's not something i use at all.

You may be right, but I think eBay is unbeatable. Who's ever going to sell something on a new site with only a few buyers?

Not sure about Ebay but I think Facebook is on the way out and will become less and less popular in the coming years.

I must post 1 thing on facebook every month if that, I just can't understand what the fasination is of sharing everything that is going in your life every second of the day with other people, some of who you hardly know.

there's something called madbid or something like that, i see it advertised on tv channels all the time. apparently it hasn't made any dent into ebay's profits.

Madbid is a difference concept to Ebay though (i think) where you buy "credits" which enable you bid so many times on something.

Ebay i suspect has cornered that market of auction i can't see that falling off unless items become alot cheaper in the mainstream on Amazon.

I remember that Jungle.com back in the day that rivalled Amazon but eventually fell off the map.

I'm proud to say that I don't understand how Twitter actually works. I occasionally have a nosey on there but always get lost among all the hashtags and at signs.

I may be wrong but I'd imagine Facebook is a hundred times bigger than anything like MySpace ever was, so it will take something pretty massive to overtake them in that market.

Maybe there'll come a day when people aren't so self-absorbed and obsessed with the idea that other people might actually be remotely interested in their every move, and there'll no longer be a market for sites like Twitter and Facebook. Probably not.

And I think more and more people are clocking onto how Amazon is, in every way, a better tool than eBay for a lot of products.

I don't know where the notion that you have to be self obsessed and self absorbed to use twitter comes from.

You said yourself you don't understand how it works and yet lambast anyone that uses it as the above.

I think once you filter out the crap proliferated by tweens and "fan accounts" it's a fantastic tool to keep up to date with Sport, News, world events, film, music and any interest you may have, of course there's the added bonus of being able to converse with friends via tweets or DM. And there's none of the baby pics and pics of crap nights out that are a dime a dozen on facebook.

I think people that are of the opinion "others care about their every move" are in a very very small minority. Most use it for the exact oposite to find out what is going on elsewhere in the country/world or within their circle of friends.

Hipster_Nebula wrote:I don't know where the notion that you have to be self obsessed and self absorbed to use twitter comes from.

You said yourself you don't understand how it works and yet lambast anyone that uses it as the above.

I think once you filter out the crap proliferated by tweens and "fan accounts" it's a fantastic tool to keep up to date with Sport, News, world events, film, music and any interest you may have, of course there's the added bonus of being able to converse with friends via tweets or DM. And there's none of the baby pics and pics of crap nights out that are a dime a dozen on facebook.

I think people that are of the opinion "others care about their every move" are in a very very small minority. Most use it for the exact oposite to find out what is going on elsewhere in the country/world or within their circle of friends.

Well obviously it wasn't meant to be taken literally - the clue is in the fact that I find use for Facebook myself. I don't understand how Twitter works but that doesn't mean I don't understand much of what it is used for.

I have used eBay for a number of years and acquired a few bargains. As long as you check that the seller has a good feedback rating you should not have any problems.

Facebook and Twitter are mainly for the younger generation. Being born in the fifties I had no need for Twitter or Facebook in my younger days and i certainly don't need it now. What you've never had you never miss.

Natasha Whittam wrote:You may be right, but I think eBay is unbeatable. Who's ever going to sell something on a new site with only a few buyers?

Gumtree is REALLY taking off in a big big way as a realistic rival to Ebay...

Ebay insists on taking a cut from anything you make...Gumtree doesn't. its totally free...

the only difference is that is is not an 'auction' site so ebay has got that bit cornered, but as a tool for buying and selling almost anything it cant be beat...

Apart from Gumtree is riddled with spam and crime.

Hipster_Nebula wrote:Apart from Gumtree is riddled with spam and crime.

no spam... just adverts - that's how its funded.

trust me, Ebay has crime too, if your foolish enough to buy anything fake or dodgy of either site then you deserve it...

There's a lot of over 50s on Facebook now and some of them are as annoying as the teenagers...actually, they're more annoying because you expect it from teenagers.
There's nowt worse than an older Facebook user that comes across like a 13 year old.

For instance, I saw a comment made last week on a friend's picture, like "he's got a well fit arse hahaha xx". This woman was well into her 50s. No...just no!

Reebok_Rebel wrote:

trust me, Ebay has crime too, if your foolish enough to buy anything fake or dodgy of either site then you deserve it...

But how do you know if something is fake until you have it in your hands? I bought some Prada shoes on eBay, they had all the right tags and marks but when they arrived they were fake.

Ebay doesn't allow fakes, though while things may slip through the traps if fakes are reported or found to have been sold the accounts are shut down and proceedings take place, you also get a refund.

you can't even list things described as "like Gucci, or like Ray ban"

Gumtree on the other hand is completely un-policed and a haven for spam listings, most of the transactions take place in person too and there's been countless crimes against the person reports stemming from that.

Same with Craigs list in America which is a complete mess.

Hipster_Nebula wrote:Ebay doesn't allow fakes, though while things may slip through the traps if fakes are reported or found to have been sold the accounts are shut down and proceedings take place, you also get a refund.

Simply not true unless you can prove something is a fake. And how are you going to do that? As I said on another thread, I bought a coat that was a fake - eBay did nothing unless I could provide proof - and when I left feedback telling the world the seller was selling fakes my comment was removed.

Hipster_Nebula wrote:

Same with Craigs list in America which is a complete mess.

Is Craigs List like Gumtree? I've heard it mentiond loads of times in US films but never actually looked at it.

Natasha Whittam wrote:

Hipster_Nebula wrote:Ebay doesn't allow fakes, though while things may slip through the traps if fakes are reported or found to have been sold the accounts are shut down and proceedings take place, you also get a refund.

Simply not true unless you can prove something is a fake. And how are you going to do that? As I said on another thread, I bought a coat that was a fake - eBay did nothing unless I could provide proof - and when I left feedback telling the world the seller was selling fakes my comment was removed.

It is true, it's in Ebays terms of use. You can even report a listing as fake even if you don't plan to bid on it.

Ebay was walloped with a massive fine for turning a blind eye to fakes a few years ago now they've stepped up their game.

do things slip through, yes of course, but there's no way they'd ignore multiple concerns about a user.

Natasha Whittam wrote:

Hipster_Nebula wrote:Ebay doesn't allow fakes, though while things may slip through the traps if fakes are reported or found to have been sold the accounts are shut down and proceedings take place, you also get a refund.

Simply not true unless you can prove something is a fake. And how are you going to do that? As I said on another thread, I bought a coat that was a fake - eBay did nothing unless I could provide proof - and when I left feedback telling the world the seller was selling fakes my comment was removed.

at the end of the day, Ebay is a business - its not just providing a service to people who want to buy and sell things for nothing. it takes a fee from both buyers and sellers, it also 'looks after' its top rated sellers and will remove bad feedback - them not doing so is going to lose money...

its a bit like Natasha saying 'my companies adverts are crap' its not going to help her company is it?