Twitter IPO success a turning point for social networks?

When news first broke about the pending Twitter IPO, it was widely speculated whether it would mirror Facebook’s fumbled launch. After all, both are social networks, both are of questionable revenue generation, relying as they do on digital advertising. But Twitter is not Facebook — in more ways than one.

It’s not so much a social network as an information sharing tool or if you’re being as bold as Kevin Thau, the company’s recently departed veep of business and corporate development, a new kind of news network. However one chooses to describe it, it is fundamentally an endless stream of public sentiment (aka heaps o’ data). And that’s made a big difference in investors willing to hop on board. Another difference? Greater popularity with the kiddies — Facebook is so 2011.

For more reasons why Twitter will likely continue to soar, head over to this week’s Searchlight which also includes: how mobile computing is changing ecommerce, whether it makes sense for your company to stick with BlackBerry and more.