Future So Bright: Facebook Vs. Twitter
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a blogumn by Josh Grelle
There seems to be a newish trend in the media, Twittering. It’s all over the news channels, especially Good Morning America. I honestly don’t get twittering, though. I don’t get why people do it or even what it really is.
From my understanding it’s just a website devoted entirely to facebook like status messages. Why would you twit (or tweet or twitter) if you could just do the same thing on Facebook? Facebook also has chat, groups, games, and messaging. So I just don’t see what’s so great about Twitter.
I don’t actually know anyone my age or in high school who twitters, although supposedly it’s a growing trend. One ABC article talks about how Twitter usage is up 700% from last year. However, it’s surprisingly not the technologically savvy youth causing the huge uptick, but adults in the 24-54 year old range who are making Twitter’s activity jump.
I guess this explains why it’s more popular with older generations. Twitter seems rather easy to use and is probably a good place to start an online social life for people who didn’t grow up with Facebook and Myspace.
Another article speaks out against Twitter because of its actual purpose: “Being exposed to details, from someone’s painful breakup to what they had for breakfast — and much more sordid details than that — feels like voyeurism,” says one 31-year-old public relations executive in Washington, D.C. “I’m less concerned with protecting my privacy, and more concerned at the ethics of a `human zoo’ where others’ lives, and often serious problems, are treated as entertainment.”
Although this article is directed against both Facebook and Twitter, I feel that Facebook is more than just looking at how people are spending their every waking moment. Facebook also has a user friendly interface and, like I previously said, has way more features.
I agree that twitter is a tool that is better served as part of a larger social networking site but I do like some of the twitter art/comedy pieces that have been done.
this is my favorite
http://www.holytaco.com/if-homers-odyssey-was-wri…
I agree that twitter is a tool that is better served as part of a larger social networking site but I do like some of the twitter art/comedy pieces that have been done.
this is my favorite
http://www.holytaco.com/if-homers-odyssey-was-wri…
it's funny — i've been on twitter since the very beginning (thanks to my friend, @mi, who is always the first to find out about everything), but i so very rarely use it. i guess i don't have much to say in 120 characters or less. i also don't have the patience to read all my friends' twitters, because it's just too much to keep up with. (that's how i feel about the facebook homepage too — i'm a little OCD, so i feel the need to read everything, and that's just crazy-making.)
but i am kinda fascinated by how many celebrities use twitter. i mean, there are people with agendas (McCain twitters from time to time), and people who have their people twittering for them (Obama), but then there are the celebrities who are just there to twitter like the rest of the twits. the link below is to a list of supposedly "real" celebrities on twitter. there are, of course, fake twitter accounts — the twitter equivalent of fan-run myspace/facebook pages.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/blog/2009/ja…
it's funny — i've been on twitter since the very beginning (thanks to my friend, @mi, who is always the first to find out about everything), but i so very rarely use it. i guess i don't have much to say in 120 characters or less. i also don't have the patience to read all my friends' twitters, because it's just too much to keep up with. (that's how i feel about the facebook homepage too — i'm a little OCD, so i feel the need to read everything, and that's just crazy-making.)
but i am kinda fascinated by how many celebrities use twitter. i mean, there are people with agendas (McCain twitters from time to time), and people who have their people twittering for them (Obama), but then there are the celebrities who are just there to twitter like the rest of the twits. the link below is to a list of supposedly "real" celebrities on twitter. there are, of course, fake twitter accounts — the twitter equivalent of fan-run myspace/facebook pages.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/blog/2009/ja…
The experience of using Twitter is only as good as the collection of people you follow. Twitter is wonderful for light-duty site-update messages (the Telegraph uses Twitter to drive traffic to their site when they post a new image gallery), coordinating a changing plan in real time ("x restaurant has a 1-hr wait, let's go somewhere else"), or supplementing another service with immediate updates (Peter Shankman, the founder of "Help a Reporter Out" – a mailing list that connects journalists and sources – puts urgent requests on Twitter). Add in a peer group of interesting, accomplished people who are engaged with the world around them and can write quite hits about their experiences well (and/or get mobile-phone pix up immediately), and you have a pretty compelling service.
The experience of using Twitter is only as good as the collection of people you follow. Twitter is wonderful for light-duty site-update messages (the Telegraph uses Twitter to drive traffic to their site when they post a new image gallery), coordinating a changing plan in real time ("x restaurant has a 1-hr wait, let's go somewhere else"), or supplementing another service with immediate updates (Peter Shankman, the founder of "Help a Reporter Out" – a mailing list that connects journalists and sources – puts urgent requests on Twitter). Add in a peer group of interesting, accomplished people who are engaged with the world around them and can write quite hits about their experiences well (and/or get mobile-phone pix up immediately), and you have a pretty compelling service.