Skittles switches homepage from Twitter to Facebook (what’s next?)

Skittles, the rainbow-colored chewy sugar candy that makes me sick to my stomach and gives me cavities, has just made its Facebook fan Page its official home page. This is at least a temporary switch from its last incarnation — a Twitter search page showing you other people’s tweets about Skittles, which appeared last weekend. Perhaps the company is trying to figure out how many users of various social networks it can attract and learn about through this gimmick? What’s next, a Skittles MySpace profile?

Skittles’ Twitter search page was problematic because semi-anonymous Twitter users were spamming it with crude and racist remarks. Perhaps the new Page is a better choice, as it forces people to join the page using their (generally) real-world Facebook identities. As MG Siegler wrote about the Twitter version of the Mars-owned confection’s web page:

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Naturally, people are already spamming the hell out of this. One tweet being repeated over and over again unfortunately uses a racial slur. As such, I suspect this little experiment will end rather soon for Skittles. I’m a firm believer in the power of Twitter Search as perhaps the most compelling thing about the service, but the candy’s use of the feature just feels gimmicky. It would have been better as a part of the site, not as the homepage. My advice: I know times are tough, but hire a web designer.