Comments on: Why Do I Need Facebook When I Have Twitter?

By: Jason Mendelson

Jason Mendelson — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 14:09:04 +0000

Hope that you avoid surgery. It hasn’t been a lot of fun

By: Warren

Warren — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 01:53:45 +0000

I'm looking at hip surgery down the track..maybe FB and such distractions have sucked what little time I have for my body to move. There is an old saying, "If you want to know what the weather is like, take a look out the window"

By: slowpoison

slowpoison — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 01:13:25 +0000

I do like Twitter. It's cute besides being useful. And that's what keeps me there.

But, having said that, Twitter makes it really hard to track responses. It's like hosting a crowd in a room (even with a follower/follow list). There's chatter coming from every direction. With vocal audiences it can soon turn into commotion.

I like Buzz, because you can track replies and maintain a conversation. Twitter is great for one-way traffic – aka broadcast.

FB, it's just for fun. I haven't had anything serious done there.

By: Larry Port

Larry Port — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 14:12:29 +0000

I'm with Pete Forde. I use Facebook for people I have personal relationships with. I go against the grain here a bit and try to keep business away from it.

Twitter and LinkedIn serve more of a business need, i.e. brand recognition and networking. Also on Twitter, you can have more than one profile quite easily. So you can have multiple brand presences as well as personas.

Larry Port
@rocketmatter
@larryport

By: ferodynamics

ferodynamics — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 08:42:14 +0000

1/10th by what math?

Twitter accepts the reality of the Internet (which isn't going anywhere, despite Zuckerberg's denial) at its core, in the API, whereas Facebook is crippleware, a Disneyland where you can't get off the rides.

Twitter is underwater currents in an Internet sea, but Facebook is a whale about to be poached.

http://img413.imageshack.us/img413/733/0810061120...

By: Jason Mendelson

Jason Mendelson — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 21:31:05 +0000

Thanks for the support. Nice comments, too.

@jasonmendelson

By: Jonny

Jonny — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 21:26:50 +0000

Loved this post, it nicely summed up my thoughts on the two platforms only more eloquently!

Twitter has become my main source of information. For example I’ve found this article because of it! I am still astounded by the ease of which I can get advice / questions answered just from 140 characters and not just from my followers.

Facebook for me now is for keeping in touch with friends not on Twitter and playing Kingdoms of Camelot!

- Jonny (@DevJonny)

By: Jason Mendelson

Jason Mendelson — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 18:53:07 +0000

Great comments and agree. Can I borrow the Aston, though?

By: Bruce

Bruce — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 18:40:32 +0000

I think the distinction is really one of use and the savviness of the different pools of users. Facebook is still, at its heart, a *web* destination. Twitter is predominantly a *digital* destination. Sure, twitter has a website, but I'd argue that a high percentage of the interaction via twitter doesn't take place through the website (except for novice users) but through specialized apps and other potentially other devices. I'd even further bet that most of your twitter colleagues are more technologically advanced than the general population and are comfortable existing in a bunch of different mediums — their sense of self is stronger in different environments and they seem themselves as a constant. I think this is an evolved attitude and reflects a comfort level. The *vast* majority of the world isn't there and the web is still a thing you get to in a browser, on a computer. Facebook's model of engagement is heavily invested in that approach even though they have mobile apps. But, because facebook is a destination, it also ends up being a touch point for heavier interactions — see zynga, et all, for use as a platform. It tries to do *many* things pretty well. Twitter's a data channel. It doesn't try to do much more than that and any add-on is a small incremental bit (hash tags or lists) rather than being a big slab of meat on the experience.

I don't think it's an OR proposition. While you have a fairly divided population in tech savviness and comfort, both will exist. You'll use them for different things and that makes sense. If I'm hauling lumber from Home Depot, taking the Aston doesn't make a lot of sense.

By: Cookie Monster

Cookie Monster — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 17:36:04 +0000

Does anyone else wonder if Facebook is a bit of a fad?

Around 1981-1983 I got heavily into modem BBSs (really the precursor to Facebook, essentially online forums) for talking with and meeting other people but after a few years I got bored and moved on.

I think Facebook has more value as a way to keep connected with people over time. But I wonder if the addiction level of interest where people are checking in several (or more) times a day will wane.