Why Forcing Twitter To Be Facebook Is A 'Fundamental Misunderstanding'

Most analysts have always valued Twitter Inc (NYSE: TWTR) by comparing it with Facebook Inc (NASDAQ: FB). But according to Jason Calacanis, Inside.com founder and CEO, that’s where the Street might be making a big mistake.

Calacanis was on CNBC Monday to discuss why Twitter shouldn’t be compared with Facebook and how Twitter can continue to flourish.

Wall Street Isn’t Paying Attention

"Twitter has been growing at 5 percent, 10 percent quarter-over-quarter, I mean, in its history, basically," Calacanis began. "And so, Wall Street is a little upset about the growth, but I don’t think they have been paying attention. It’s quite possible that the right size of this company is 300, 400, 500 million monthly active users."

He continued, "So, to try to force Twitter to be Facebook, I think, is a fundamental misunderstanding of how social networks might actually work. They seem to be broken up by geography, gender and location, and it might be a generation [break] rather. So, it might be that Twitter is actually the right size and is growing at a nice pace and they have had an amazing revenue run-up thanks to Adam Bain.

Related Link: Yusko Compares Twitter Unfavorably With Facebook

Going The Facebook Way

On how Twitter can match up to Facebook, Calacanis said, "(Mark) Zuckerberg has realized long ago that Facebook would not be everything, and that no social network could be everything to all people and he made two of the greatest acquisitions of last couple of years – obviously, WhatsApp and Instagram.

"It’s quite possible that Instagram and WhatsApp become as big or bigger than Facebook itself, and if you look at what Twitter has done right and what Dick Costolo should be getting massive high-fives for is they built a great advertising platform and they did exceptional at M&A. Vine and Periscope – these are great products.

"And I think if they continue on this acquisition spree in the same way that Zuckerberg did out-hustling Google and really embarrassing Larry Page by getting Instagram and WhatsApp. I think Twitter can do that at a smaller scale and take the Twitter advertising network – which is so strong and so well run – and then taking that as common infrastructure against a collection of brands," Calacanis concluded.

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