Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s claim on Tuesday that Facebook has “bulldozed competition” reflects a view that is driving an antitrust investigation into the social network giant. It’s a little ironic, then, that two of Facebook’s highest-profile rivals, Snap and Twitter, have lately been doing better than they have in a long time.
To be sure, both companies might be much bigger if it weren’t for Facebook. Even so, they’ve clearly managed to figure out how to prosper alongside their much bigger competitor. Largely by carving out significant niches that appeal to their core users, Twitter and Snap have reported strong growth in ad revenues in recent quarters. And as a result, the stock prices of both Snap and Twitter have soared in the last year or so. Snap’s has almost tripled since the beginning of this year, to $15.80 on Monday from $5.79 on Jan. 2, while Twitter stock is up 43% in the past 12 months.