Facebook vs Twitter
The new Facebook bears an eerie resemblance to Twitter in both function and appearance. Instead of asking for our status, we are asked to post what we are thinking. Whereas the old website broke everything into categories, everything is lumped together in a gushing stream of information. Like Twitter, Facebook is now aggregating information without prejudice.
It’s an interesting shift because on the surface Facebook would seem to have every advantage over Twitter. The culture of birthday greetings, posting links, and clever away messages is just as prevalent as ever. Facebook is also currently the number one social networking website, beating out myspace both in terms of active users and monthly visits. The crux for any of these websites is figuring out a way to keep people coming back. How do you make the incessant flow of information more presentable and easy to consume yet still need to be checked constantly? How do you make a website become a necessary part of someone’s life?
It’s tempting to automatically dismiss Twitter as standing no chance in this struggle but its rise in popularity has been incredible. Going from being ranked 22 in social networks to 3 in such a short space of time is no small task. As a user of both websites, I also use them for very different purposes. My Facebook account has always been an elaborate yearbook and text message service. Twitter, on the other hand, is where I talk with people about video games. What’s striking is that I have never met almost all of the people I exchange tweets with. Twitter has a distinct advantage over Facebook in this regard because it encourages meeting and linking with strangers. You don’t disclose personal information in your profile, so you don’t really care who reads it.
There are also several problems that Facebook’s culture is going to have when adopting Twitter’s information distribution method. It would be nice to think people have gained some sense of internet etiquette over the years, but you still encounter folks who seem to think we need to know what they’re having for breakfast. Combine this with people actually posting interesting links or comments and that girl who incessantly needs to tell me she won a free laptop and you start to encounter information overload. There are only so many people you can follow on Twitter before you just start focusing on certain people and ignoring the rest. The issue is that de-friending someone on Facebook is often taken personally, un-following someone on Twitter is just business.
Which brings up the issue of functionality that is going to dominate 2009 for both gaming and the internet as a whole. The website that is going to become a part of a person’s life, as opposed to just an escape from work, is the one that is the most useful. After four years of using Facebook, the majority of people I’m friends with no longer live near me. I don’t really need to know about their day to day lives except for the occasional nostalgia bender. Twitter and the discussion it provides with a group of likeminded people is, by comparison, something I rely on daily for news and insight. Grouping people by common interests, instead of who they know, seems to generate more traffic.
Comments
Great to see a good succinct comparison between Twitter and Facebook. It’s important to realise that although they can both be lumped under the heading social networking, they are NOT the same and perform different functions.
I do a lot of work for the public sector, and there is a huge cultural opposition to using the social web during work hours, as it is seen as a time waster. I don’t think that organisations can afford to buck the trend, and will have to start to consider that this is often how people choose to work now; what they need to do is provide guidelines for how they consider use to be acceptable.
I use Twitter mostly for keeping up to date with my profession, and, like you, haven’t met most of the people i follow. As such, telling everyone what you’ve had for lunch is not interesting, but sharing interesting and useful news and ideas is invaluable - this is something that should be harnessed, not denigrated by companies.
It’s horses for courses.
Comment by Tessa Darley from Glasgow — March 20, 2009 @ 3:13 am
Interesting point about de-friending annoying tweeters among the Facebook society. The last three revision of Facebook have wormed the Twitter functionality closer and closer to the forefront, and now it’s dead centre. It’s almost so centralized that it disregards Facebooks other prominent features like the applications, which I think has alienated a good chunk of the audience.
Comment by Daniel Primed from Adelaide, Australia — March 20, 2009 @ 8:42 am
I think the refurbishing of Facebook to resemble Twitter wasn’t such a bad move. When it comes to social networking, people are going to follow the most popular trends, and right now that’s going to be Twitter. Aggregating and presenting the information in real time and within one display is what every networker is looking for.
But as the social networking trends evolve, shouldn’t we begin wondering where we are going? What is going to keep these members online and utilizing these websites? I suggest checking out this new social network, HopOnThis.com. It was launched not too long ago by an online advertising company called eZanga.com. They integrate a rewards program and actually give back to their members. I think this could be the next best thing.
Comment by Lisa Quinn from Delaware — March 20, 2009 @ 9:24 am
@Lisa Quinn
I don’t think it’s a bad move so much as they did it without really taking into consideration the fact that the information being broadcasted on facebook isn’t exactly malleable in the same way. My facebook wall is now an incoherent wall of shouting and trivia from people I haven’t spoken to in years. How long is that going to interest people, particularly one’s out of college or older?
Time will tell with twitter, but I’m willing to bet on a website being useful beating out a website offering prizes.
@ Primed
I agree, I wonder if they’ll try to organize people by topic again? I’d be interested in a facebook wall for specific groups or subjects.
@ Darley
Yup.
Comment by L.B. Jeffries — March 20, 2009 @ 3:14 pm
Very interesting comparison I must say. I agree 100% that each serves it’s own function in a unique way. Only I don’t think that Twitter is getting all this traffic simply because of it allows people to stalk each other. My 2 cents is that Twitter is so popular because of the technology involved in it. Namely, the fact that it can provide us with real-time search results. So I can find out about Google Wave before even Google announces it: from someone sitting in the Google I/O conference who sends out a tweet. In fact, this is how I found out about Google Wave. Ironically, I think Google Wave will increasingly replace both Facebook and Twitter in the coming years as it looks set to completely change the way we communicate and collaborate.
Comment by Lav — June 29, 2009 @ 2:50 pm