Ezra Gottheil, an analyst with Technology Business Research, said he wouldn't be surprised if UberMedia were to go after some of , but the company would have an uphill climb.

"Well, it wouldn't be easy. They'd have to get people to switch," he said. "One barrier is the as a whole. You need a critical mass to draw additional users. It's the usual chicken-and-egg problem."

Gottheil surmises that a Twitter rival might get a solid foothold in the market by offering a microblogging service that would post comments on the new service, as well as on Twitter.

"With its apps, Ubermedia can make it easy for its users to be on both platforms, Twitter and theirs," he explained. "Then it becomes a contest in attracting and keeping users.... Once it's in that position, it can go head-to-head with Twitter on features and capabilities, and hope to win out in the long term."

Sharon Gaudin covers the Internet and Web 2.0, emerging technologies, and desktop and laptop chips for Computerworld. Follow Sharon on Twitter at or subscribe to . Her e-mail address is .