How the Separation of Twitter and LinkedIn Is Like the Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes Breakup

There are two topics that have held our attention over the past few weeks: the split between social media powerhouses Twitter and LinkedIn and the breakup of celebrities Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes.

Actress Katie Holmes and Mission Impossible actor Tom Cruise recently reached a legal settlement, less than two weeks after Holmes filed for divorce. The end of June was also when Twitter announced that it would strengthen the guidelines on how the Twitter API is used; the result is a break from its partnership with LinkedIn.

There are comparisons to draw between the two splits, aside from the fact both news still make for headlines worldwide.

Yes, there were unhappy parties in both relationships.

When LinkedIn and Twitter integrated in 2009, users could add their Tweets to their LinkedIn profiles as Status Updates. The auto-update option was a great sharing option but negatively impacted LinkedIn feeds that filled with the Tweets of over-zealous friends.

The problem was that not all LinkedIn users knew how to block updates for their connections and could not weed through the automated Tweets to see business updates posted directly onto the site. The social Tweets took over and became an irritation; LinkedIn users were unhappy.

Unhappy Katie Holmes filed for divorce after reportedly being troubled by Tom Cruise’s involvement with Scientology. She may have worried that six-year-old daughter Suri would be taken away from her. Whatever the reason, it is clear there was unhappiness for the divorce to occur after six years. Let’s realize as well that there are unhappy people worldwide who wish to read political news without having to look at pictures of Cruise and Holmes in the side-bar of their computer screens.

The two breakups spell out the end of distinct automatic-updates within each relationship.

On Twitter, users had the option to share all Tweets to their LinkedIn status boxes rather than being selective with shares by adding “#in” to the messages. All Tweets were then automatically shared onto LinkedIn. Now, users can still share content between the social media platforms but the relationship is different. When starting a discussion in LinkedIn or updating the status box, pressing the Twitter emblem at the bottom of the free-text box now shares the message onto Twitter as well. Not ALL messages are automatically shared.

In Cruise-Holmes world, there will no longer be automatic photo-taking by paparazzi when the couple heads to a restaurant or are out in public with Suri. The automatic gesture of Cruise to kiss Holmes at every gala event they attend will no longer automatically appear at the front page of celebrity websites as big news.

That auto-update is now replaced by photos of Katie Holmes out alone with daughter Suri and articles about Tom Cruise in his new film Rock Of Ages. We are not privy to the behind-closed-doors legal proceedings of the divorce. We also don’t know whether it was Twitter or LinkedIn who officially called off the integration.

LinkedIn and Twitter are both social media networks that are regularly accessed worldwide.

While Twitter provides social as well as business opportunities for its users, LinkedIn is a more business-oriented platform. Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes are now all-business as the celebrities call it quits on their marriage of six years. Let’s see whether they can remain civil toward one another in public and whether Twitter will be going out on any first-dates again soon.