Facebook will soon allow users to update Twitter accounts on the Facebook platform, according to a discovery by ZDNet.

This function, previously only available for Facebook pages, will update a linked Twitter account with every public update from a Facebook profile. To link the Twitter account, go to facebook.com/twitter.

Twitter Gets More Content

Facebook, with over 750 million active users, is a lot bigger than Twitter, which has only 100 million active users. That is, there are many Facebook users who never or rarely user Twitter.

Now that the Twitter function is so convenient on Facebook, it could entice some Facebook users to try Twitter for the first time.

Even for users who use both Facebook and Twitter, allowing this automated updating of Twitter will likely give Twitter more content from many users who otherwise would not have bothered to post the message of their Facebook updates on Twitter.

But Twitter Threatened?

Previously, one of the major differences between Facebook and Twitter is that Facebook is entity-to-entity while Twitter is entity-to-public.

However, Facebook has gotten in the entity-to-public game with its recent introduction of the subscription feature, which allows users send public updates and the public (i.e. non-friends) to follow them.

Now, with the Twitter updating function integrated in Facebook, Facebook may come to overshadow Twitter and relegate it to the role of one of its many functions in the eyes of some Twitter users.

Maybe Not...

Twitter, however, has thrived alongside Facebook's public pages. Moreover, it thrived with third party applications like HootSuite that took users away from the Twitter Web site itself.

Twitter's value isn't just about its software functions; it's also about the community and ecosystem, which is something Facebook and third party applications can't easily replicate.

The Real Winner

Without a doubt, users are the winners in this development, regardless of whether Facebook or Twitter benefits more.

More choices, offered tastefully with proper respect to privacy and consent, will always be a win for consumers.

Facebook Twitter Software Update