Compare twitter, contrast facebook… don’t
Twitter is not another facebook. Trying to debate or draw conclusions on which one is mainstream at the moment is actually pointless. My opinion is they are both mainstream in their own niche. Twitter clearly is a social medium for expression where as facebook is a social medium for sharing. Regardless of whether twitter overtakes facebook on user numbers or not, it is not really going to make a difference on how they both facilitate social networking. It will be interesting to see whether twitter will ever have a clear competitor in its niche. I really don’t think facebook is planning on touching down on twitter territory, and twitter on facebook’s. What makes twitter twitter, is the fact that it’s not another facebook. It is the clear differentiator that made twitter appeal to a more gen x community of users. This is the reason why we see politicians, journalists, business owners, academics, researchers etc. on twitter mainly than on facebook. Facebook’s appeal (and also ‘myspace’ if I may mention) is more towards a younger generation who are not really worried about what’s happening in the world outside theirs’. I think twitter has contributed significantly just as much as facebook to social networking. It has started to attract users who clearly were not in the pages of facebook, or didn’t dare to float in myspace. Not so web savvy mothers and fathers who were annoyed at their kids spending whole nights in facebook and myspace doing their thang, are now following the prime minister and the oppostion leader on twitter. Facebook’s effort on connecting communities together has been a massive effort on its part. Clearly families, friends and loved ones in different parts of the world can now connect and share with each other easily. These two social networking tools are clearly leaders of two different mainstreams, and I guess rather than trying to compare and contrast them, we should try to appreciate and compliment them for their effort.
