Is Twitter hotter than Facebook?
What with one thing and another I’ve had a bit of time to get to know both Facebook and Twitter extremely well over the past few weeks. I think it’s about time I wrote an unbiased opinion on the two, purely from the point of view of how I use them.
I’ve come to the opinion that Facebook is more about games and photos and scattered status updates. Sure it has groups and fan pages and you can use it to contact other friends, but it’s mostly a one-way pleasure / communication vehicle. That is not to say I want to give up my Facebook. No, I like my Facebook. I like my Facebook friends. It’s just that I don’t get most of my social interactions via Facebook (except maybe the odd argument conversation with someone).
Twitter, on the other hand, is purely about social interaction and conversation. I hardly ever see a photo of someone’s kids, or a note that they are just like Arnie from Terminator. I don’t even get sea creatures or good karma from fellow tweeps. No, what I get is the thoughts and discoveries of these people, 140 characters at a time. When I watch all the conversations flash past on Tweetdeck, I try and keep up with those that interest me. I send a few notes to ‘Joe in Australia’ or ‘Connie in Cleveland’ and they return the favor and we laugh together. If I need information on a good coffee shop in Seattle (yeah, right!), hundreds of fellow tweeps will give me their opinion. What’s more, everyone is posting links to the Internet; constantly. There is a plethora of wonderful information for my consumption on an hourly basis. How did I ever get work done before Twitter?
Twitter is HOT, very HOT. If you want to connect with like-minded people and you have 57 hours a day to spare then Twitter is for you. It’s addictive. It’s informative. It’s fun. And, you know what, it’s actually really frickin’ useful. I have improved myself and learned so many things during my brief sojourn with Twitter.
Twitter is better than email. Want to know something? Just ask a question. People will respond. Want to ask a celebrity something? Just do it. Sometimes even they respond. That’s something you can’t do with email. Most celebrities are human too. And, let’s face it, if they only have to write 140 characters to you, it’s no big deal. They can manage that. Twitter is bringing the world together, 140 characters at a time. I know, that’s a bold statement, but I really think it can do it. For once there’s something that has no boundaries. Use a PC, use a phone, just send your tweet out.
Another thing I’ve found is that if you’re an interesting kind of person then people will follow you. Slowly, one by one, you’ll grow your network. I’ve been growing my network organically and it’s really starting to snowball a little now. My followers are growing by over 100 a day and increasing exponentially. Yes, there are some people that have created artificial numbers, and some that abuse the system, but others use it like it’s supposed to be used. I hope I am one of those people.
One of the side effects of growing your followers is that as you gain more and keep on twittering, more and more people take notice of what you’re writing and more and more people start to follow you. So it goes on. It sounds a little like Multi-Level Marketing (MLM), but you’re not selling anything. Of course there are some people out there who do use Twitter for MLM, and that’s up to them.
So, is Twitter hotter than Facebook? A resounding ‘YES’ on that one. Some people argue the two services are growing more and more similar every day, but I don’t see it that way at all. Facebook cannot emulate what Twitter does and Twitter deosn’t need all those photos and games. I love Twitter just the way it is.
