Is Twitter About to Be Knocked Off Its Perch?

Twitter, the popular micro-blogging service with around 200 million users, suspended several rival mobile applications earlier this year, but it now looks as though one of those rivals might be set to go into direct competition by setting up its own alternative service.  Reports suggest that UberMedia, which owns applications such as UberSocial for the BlackBerry platform, Twidroyd for Android devices and UberCurrent for iPhones and iPads, plans to launch its own social network service that could be in direct competition with Twitter.

Although the limit of 140 characters in Twitter messages is what has characterized the service, it seems that users are simply finding this too restrictive.  In addition, there have been complaints by newcomers that the service is somewhat less than user-friendly.  Should UberMedia decide to go ahead with a rival service, those are likely to be two areas that it addresses, which could result in Twitter users defecting in droves, especially because the company already has the attention of many Twitter members through its existing applications.       

Although it might seem inconceivable that anyone could come along and knock Twitter off its perch, one only has to look at how Facebook totally eclipsed existing social media sites such as MySpace.  Whether reports of UberMedia’s plans turn out to be accurate or not, however, remains to be seen.