TwitPic Founder Launches Twitter Clone

It can’t be coincidental timing. Less than 24 hours after Twitter rolled out its official photo sharing service to all users – something which will seriously compete with a service like TwitPic, a third-party application that does the same thing as the now-official version – TwitPic co-founder Noah Everett announces his new project. And it looks suspiciously like a Twitter clone – with almost nothing to differentiate it.

Twitter announced its photo sharing service back in June, but it was only today that all users could access it. I’m sure that initial announcement had Everett shaking in his boots, and probably helped him put the fast-track on Heello.

First impressions: Heello is Twitter, only without the userbase, relationships with mainstream media and advertisers, and experienced team behind it.

When you sign up for Heello, you create a username… which has that pretty iconic “@” symbol in front of it. Then, in order to interact with the network, you share “Pings”. Can you guess what a “Ping” is? Come, on, guess. It’s a 140 character message that can include the @username of someone else to “tag” them in the post, or multimedia like pictures and video. Did I mention that it is 140 characters long?

Heello also has followers and people you’re following, but prefers to call them “Listeners” and “Listening”. Oi…

Apparently, as TechCrunch reports (just as puzzled as I am), the big difference between Heello and Twitter is that Heello’s stream of updates is automatic, and you don’t need to click for more “Pings”. But as they say, “What’s odd about Heello is that it doesn’t really seem that original besides the continuous stream of updates, which actually gets annoying.”

I couldn’t agree more. It is odd, and puzzling, and a bit perplexing. In fact, I hope that Heello is a big joke waged on the tech space, because at least that would have some sense. But I really can’t see the strategic value of creating a Twitter clone right now, especially one with pretty much nothing to differentiate itself.

If you want to try out Heello, it’s now open to the public. You can grab your usual username and start sending 140-character “Pings” to your friends… but really, I think TechCrunch got it right when they asked: “Is Heello just one big F-you to Twitter?”. Yes, yes it probably is.

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Has Social Become the New Search?

In the world of search engine marketing, no topic has dominated as much of the recent conversation as “social search.” Social search is the enhancement to core search engine results with social media annotations from an individual’s friends and those they follow online. The fundamental assumption is that people use social networks to connect with like-minded people, so the chances are high that “friends” will have referenced relevant content and/or websites.

This is a significant new norm. Not only have these annotations become commonplace, but also there is evidence that when social share data is present, those entries may appear more prominently across the results page. Now, creating content that is easily shared across social sites is a crucial tactic for the digital marketer.

But why would the search engines expend energy in integrating social data into their core results? Conventional wisdom would say that, as a result of the popularity and adoption of social media, there’s an incredible amount of consumer preference data available within the social graph. As users grow more comfortable sharing personal information and preferences online, incorporating that intelligence within search engine results seems to be a logical evolution. In the long run, it will help search engines maintain relevance as the Web becomes decidedly more complex and personal.

Does that tell the entire story though? What if the whole truth points to a far more ominous outlook for traditional search?

Along comes Google+

I posed these same questions in an article I wrote for MediaPost’s Search Insider a few months back. At that time, I went as far as to suggest that social search may represent a sign of desperation by the search engines; an extreme measure taken to remain relevant. With social media networks functioning as a primary source for information sourcing and dissemination for many, the search engines needed to tap into that larger social conscious. Social search seemed to be the response.

Google wasn’t content with social search alone though and in June launched its own social network, Google+. Seemingly overnight, it was no longer a bystander to the legitimate social scene (let’s forget about the Buzz debacle). Since then it’s become the fastest growing social network ever and has generally been met with critical acclaim save for a few gripes here and there.

But what are most intriguing about Google’s entry into the social space are the possibilities. Google will no longer need to rely on third-party share data alone. It also won’t be on the sidelines as other destinations facilitate fluid peer-to-peer communications. By joining the social arms race, Google has an opportunity to surround its users with a relevancy regardless of the specific touchpoint. Search is more social, and social is more … searchy.

It’s that last point that could help Google to achieve sustained success in social, and play defense against the current threat social poses to its dominance in search. If Google were to introduce core tenets of its search algorithm (authority and trust) to Google+, it may be able to deliver a more relevant experience to users. That experience may be something that Facebook and others find difficult to replicate.

The biggest challenge facing Google+ then is user adoption.

What does this mean for search and social marketers?

For the search and social marketer, a “wait and see” mentality is still largely required. Despite the seismic shifts occurring in the space, there remains little to do until the dust settles.

That said, there are some fairly pragmatic, necessary near-term actions. Silos need to be brought down. Search and social marketing teams need to collaborate, even join forces permanently. The new reality for these marketers is that everything is now interrelated under a common umbrella of “inbound marketing.”

Yes, social has become the new search. With Google’s recent entry, search may become the new social too.