Tech Talk

Facebook has recently unveiled yet another Twitter-like feature.

Users of the social networking Web site can now tag their friends in their statuses and posts by simply typing @ followed by their friend’s name, Keith Whamond, executive producer of Hearst Connecticut Media Group Interactive, has informed me through, what else, Facebook.

For example, if you would like to tag me in a Facebook post, and we are friends, all you have to do is type @Jamie DeLoma.

You could, for instance, post “Wow, @Jamie DeLoma wrote yet another spectacular blog!”  And, ta da, a link is created just like on Twitter.

While this is clearly a great development, it also demonstrates that Facebook is continuing to play catch-up to Twitter.

Several weeks ago, Facebook announced that it was redesigning its search.  As it rolled out to more and more users, folks instantly compared it to Twitter’s exisiting search.  And then, as I wrote about yesterday, Facebook introduced a cleaner, less cluttered site called Facebook Lite that resembled… Twitter.

While it is good for Web sites, or anybody for that matter, to acknowledge their short-comings and rectify them, it is also important for folks to introduce new, effective features that OTHERS will mirror.

Facebook, are you listening?  Or do you want to become a has-been like MySpace?