Twitter of Facebook? Or Both? In this post we will explore the decision
Facebook appeals to people looking to reconnect with old friends and famile members or find new friends online, the mashup of features like email, instant meesaging, image and video sharing, etc. feels familiar, while Teitter is a bit harder to get your arms around at first. Most people can very quickly grasp how to use Facebook to connect to friends and family, using it to share thoughts, images, etc. Like MySpace but more geared to adults than teens, Facebook is a social networking Portal, beckoning you not to leave but rather to stick around and communicate within the network. Twitter on the other hand, encourages you grab ideals in byte size chunks and use your updates as jumping off points to other places or just let others know what you are up to at any given moment.
Here are some funny figures:
- Facebook user 500Million, Twitter 106Million
- 88% people are aware of facebook, 87% of people are aware of Twitter
- 41% login Facebook everyday, 27% login Twitter everyday
- 30% login Facebook via mobile device, 37% login Twitter via mobile device
- 40% Facebook user follow a brand, 51% of brand followers will purchase that specific brand, 25% Twitter user will follow a brand, 67% of them will purchase that brand
- 12% Facebook user update their status everyday, 52%Twitter update status everyday
Why people love Twitter
The usefulness of Twitter is not readily a obvious to some people as Facebook, although it may be more addictive once you get the hand of Tweeting, you get more immediate responses and it seems to live somewhere between the worlds of email, instant messaging and blogging. Twiter encourages constant 'linking out' to anywhere and, in that respect, is more analogous to a pure search engine, annother wayto find peopel and content all over the Net. Twitter has quickly built brand awareness nad a loyal following, especially among the technically adept, bloggers, online marketers, basically anyone with something to promote seem to find Twitter extremely valuable.
Why people love Facebook
Facebook appeals to social animals and can be very addicting to people who have an insatiable appetite to stay connected with friends and make new acquaintances. In fact, some people report they rarely use email or IM tools anymore in their online social communications anymore, relying almost entirely on Facebook for email, chat, image and video sharing.
Facebook addicts prefer the social portal model versus having to log into AIM, Yahoo Messenger, Gmail, Hotmail, Flickr, YouTube, MySpace, etc. Instead, Facebook gives them a single alternative to all these applications, with one login and interface to manage their online social interaction needs. This largely explains the explosive growth Facebook continues to experience and why the company reportedly invested $200 million in data center upgrades last year to keep up with demand!
Twitter pros
- Easy to navigate and update, link to and promote anything
- Reach far beyond your inner circle of friends
- One feed pools all users; anyone can follow anyone else unless blocked
- Pure communication tool, rapid responsiveness
- You don’t have to be logged in to get updates; you can just use an RSS reader
- Very interactive, extensible messaging platform with open APIs
- Many other applications being developed (Twitterific, Summize, Twhirl, etc.)
- Potential SMS text messaging revenue from wireless networks (although Twitter states they are not currently getting any cut)
- Potential future advertising and/or enterprise subscription-based revenue streams
- With its “thin” overhead, Twitter is probably more scalable than Facebook, giving it a cost advantage
Twitter Cons
- Limited functionality; find people, send brief messages, direct replies
- Limited to 140 characters per update
- Not all people find it immediately usefu
- Over-emphasis on follower counts
- Easily abused for spam and increasing the noise level
- Relatively smaller installed user base
Facebook Pros
- Application mashup; find people, make connections, email, instant messaging, image/video sharing, etc.
- Most people can quickly grasp the value of connecting with friends, family and established contacts; some people report they use Facebook instead of email and IM
- More emphasis on deep connections with others vs. who has the most connections
- “True Friends” feature increases your transparency to selected connections; almost like having private and public profiles
- Huge, rapidly growing installed user base
- Inherit stickiness, third party applications, “gift giving” and personal data collection make Facebook a powerful advertising platform
Facebook Cons
- More difficult to navigate and update
- Requires investment of time to realize sustained benefit
- Opt in model requires a user to allow others to connect
- Less immediate responses; unless you stay logged on continually
- Overhead of mashup and “thick” applications could limit scalability, bloat cost structure
Image sources:
http://tech.qq.com/a/20101221/000420.htm
http://www.bspcn.com/2010/12/20/facebook-vs-twitter/
Relevant sources:
Facebook v.s Twitter 谁更凶猛
Facebook vs Twitter
Facebook Vs. Twitter
