What excites you more: Getting a notification telling you that you have reached your 86th follower on Twitter or, being told that your, supposed, best friend has tagged some very embarrassing photos of you on Facebook?
Before I start it’s important to say, I am no social media expert, I probably know as much as the average social network user but, like a lot things, I have an opinion on it & would like to share my thoughts!
Like the majority of professional social networkers I have the usual accounts, Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and Flickr however since joining Face I’ve learnt a lot more and hear a lot of educated opinions and conversations (arguments) about the world of social media. When I joined Face I set up a Twitter account, initially with a lot of scepticism, but now I love tweeting and find Twitter a great source for really interesting information. However, when I talk to my friends about it, whether it is to brag about finding the latest fashions or hearing the news before everyone else (I was the first to find out about Michael Jackson’s death and had to inform my friends via text, how very old skool), they don’t see what all the fuss is about.
I’ve tried to encourage them to sign up to Twitter but they don’t see it as any different to Facebook status updates? So, to finally draw a line between the two, here is a comparison of the world’s most popular social networking sites:
F A C E B O O K vs T W I T T E R
- Facebook is all about friends, family & old school friends that you would say hello to if you passed in the street vs. Tweets come from a much bigger network, professional bodies and Celebs!
- Facebook has commenting and like functions vs. Tweets can be retweeted and replied to
- Facebook is fast becoming a favourite of parents and grandparents vs. Twitter is getting a lot more media attention and is a bit cooler (if either could be classed as that).
- Facebook is currently full of bugs! vs. I found this out from someone’s Tweet and as far as I can see Twitter is bug free (apart from the odd fail whale)
- Facebook is always changing its mind vs. Twitter has a simple story
- Here is an example of my last update on Facebook and Twitter I’ll let you decide which is the most interesting:
Facebook: Joe Smith has lost his phone, if you need me you can contact me on my temporary number 07********
Twitter: @BitchBuzz: Bliss and Shelter Encourage Brits to Bake for Charity http://bit.ly/b0KCN8
In conclusion I think both have their own good points but Facebook is tiring on me. Social media is driven by content and because Twitter has such a wealth of users discussing so many different topics I think it will be the winner in the long run.
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This post was mentioned on Twitter by Facecocreation: Facebook Vs. Twitter – Face’s own @lucybotham puts the big two social networks in a head to head battle! http://ow.ly/15NXo…
Interesting. However your examples of twitter and facebook updates demonstrates perfectly the reason I don’t like Twitter. Tweets always look really complicated with links and codes and @s and you normally don’t have clue what they are talking about – it’s stuff that should be in a private message or someone trying to plug something.
Fair point Jessica but you personalise Twitter so you don’t have to have people plugging something or telling you information you find irrelevant. For example if you are a sport fanatic you could follow @nufc and @serenajwilliams or if you love The Hills follow @heidimontag (not recommended). With everything new it takes a bit of getting used to but but it won’t take long till you are hash tagging and retweeting!