Start-ups should start thinking long-term

It was recently announced that the Posterous team is joining Twitter, once again placing doubt in an online space many people invested in, and showcasing the fragility of the web and of free services. The official response from Posterous about the acquisition was positive, as was Twitter's very similar post. However, although both companies stated Posterous Spaces "will remain up and running without disruption" and users would be given "ample notice if we make any changes to the service," history has shown that acquisitions along these lines rarely result in the acquired service's longevity, as evidenced by Gowalla's recent closure.

Designer, developer, and 'entreprenerd' Faruk Ate told .net that he "genuinely wonders what use Twitter has for keeping Posterous' service and content running for more than a year or so, if even that long". He said acquisitions of this sort make him increasingly hesitant about putting any useful content he produces anywhere other than on his own site, adding that such site closures are detrimental to the web as a whole: "Should Posterous indeed be taken down eventually, all the URLs pointing to their countless posts and articles will suddenly break. Content on the web should not be treated so casually, yet far too many start-ups simply pull the plug if they can't figure out how to turn a profit. It really is time for investors and start-ups alike to think a little bit more long-term about these things."