This week I had the opportunity to try Twitter under the excuse it was for class.
Truth be told, I never wanted to join Twitter in the first place. I thought it was a poor imitation of Facebook’s status updates. I did not see the point in having two accounts on two different websites to get the same service. Looking back on it though, I can honestly say that I am happy that I am on the Twitter band wagon, and I am here to stay.
The key (and perhaps critical) difference between Twitter and Facebook is the service. Facebook is where you go to have conversations, look at pictures, comment on various things, and overall socialize with the world. Facebook also offers event planning/management, am IM service, and recently, an email service.
Now with all that, how can Twitter compete? Well, with Facebook, when people update all the time with their life happenings you get annoyed because they are taking up space on your feed. Now with Twitter, when people do that, it is ok because that is what you expect from Twitter. You get simple blurbs to say something quick and then you move on. If people want to say something back, they just update their “status” with a tag and that’s it. Followers on either side can see it and put their input also by following the same steps.
Twitter is also where you go if you want immediate feedback about something. This is not limited to people, but also companies, famous people, and what/whoever else is on. For some reason, companies do not like responding on Facebook, but they do like Twitter.
Twitter’s “trending topics” and the ability to tag ANYTHING also make it unique. You can easily find any post that was ever posted about a given topic if it has been tagged. This makes things a lot easier when trying to find something that was said months or even years ago.
It is extremely useful as a networking tool. Within the first day of becoming active on my account, I had followers from the field of work that I want to work in. Even if you don’t follow friends, these contacts make the site useful.
I do not see the point in choosing one over the other. They work better as supplements. Facebook is where you go to find out what your friends are thinking and interested in, Twitter is where go to find out what they are doing.
Follow me: http://twitter.com/#!/Blane_Humphries
I completely understand where you are coming from. I also refused to get a twitter and it took a lot of persuasion from my friends to get me to make one. I still rarely use my personal account unless i feel i have something interesting i feel like sharing with random strangers ( which is not often lol).
Love the post! I was also sucked into the Twitter thing a couple years ago. I wasn’t going to fall for all the hooplah (sp?) and jump on the bang wagon like everybody else was. But the buzz was going crazy and I got a little curious. And then before I knew it, I was a major Twitter fanatic! But hey, I, like you, am glad I finally gave it a chance. There’s great entertainment, interaction, and networking going on at this site.
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