Twitter vs Facebook

1. What features are common between Twitter and Facebook?

Facebook can Poke - twitter can Nudge

Facebook can Post Pictures - Twitpic and it tweets with a URL to your picture

We post Videos on FB - Tweet tinyurls, made easy by many twitter clients like twitterific

We can Share Links on FB - Tweet tinyrls

We can Tag pictures on FB - @name callout a person to tag on twitter

We can Comments on FB - Reply to tweets


We can see a shared link and share the link - RT (stronger endorsement by the user)

We can add link to feeds - Star favorite, you can also get back to your favorite tweets later.

We can send message - DM on twitter

We can private profiles by change the settings on FB - Closed updates approved by user

Notification and feeds on FB - Tweets

The status updates on FB - Tweets, in twitter apps like twitterific you can add your location to your tweets or pictures too.

Facebook Apps – keep content fresh on facebook with fun tools = Twitter Apps is evolving with array of tools to offer new ease of use for twitter


RSS feed of feeds = RSS feed of specific user (more granular control, also keeps the focus on the individual)

Threaded comments = Comments not threaded, but theres a twitter app that offers that to people who want to track tweets as conversations





2. How are they different in terms of features?

* Private vs. Public Social Graph

Facebook is our real social graph, real family, friends, collegemates co-workers, teachers, colleagues, fellow churchmates, fellow parents, friends suggested or referred by real friends. Facebook is also single mindedly focused on offering the best privacy controls to the users so they can share as little or as much of their pictures, profiles, videos etc. with their real friends.

Twitter is your public social graph. Everything is open, anyone can follow you and there is lot of chatter anytime you tune in.

*The Real Me, Real Time!

Twitter gets access to the real me by the ability to call out a user with a @username. There is inherent viral play here as that user is now exposed to the followers of the first user, validating their social graph in real time, which is very different than on facebook.

In twitter, you can friend anyone by following them without their knowledge or permission. You allow anyone to follow you and it is optional to friend that person back so the relationship gets mutual and allow them to send you a direct message. This is in contrast to facebook where you friend a person and it has to be mutually agreed and accepted before you can view their profile or post on their wall or see their feeds.

The main difference is that people can ignore their facebook messages.But in twitter if you call someone out in an @reply, it is reaching the real person, like an email. They can choose to ignore you or come check you out quietly and still ignore you or follow you or reply back making it a longer conversation. But you reached the real person. Their lack of communication sometimes becomes communication.

*Different technology building blocks leads to different capabilities

Facebook announced new profile pages for famous persons is trying to cut into that segment of users who follow famous people on twitter.
What is fascinating to note is this is similar functionality but goes to the fundamental difference between facebook and twittr. They built out of different bricks as building blocks.

Twitters fundamental building block is a profile made of tweets. @reply, followers, friends, DM, nudge are layered functionality on top of this.

Facebook’s building block is a profile page. That’s why when Facebook saw twitter get lot of mainstream media, they proactively created Profile Pages , which is a smart, expected move.

*Don’t underestimate the power of search

Facebook is closed, you cannot search any of your own feeds or status updates or comments or likes. You have a basic keyword search that allows to find friends or applications.
Facebook allows google to crawl public profiles and lets google bring it more users.

Summize was built using twitter and later bought by twitter and became twitters their powerful search tool. It also speaks to how open completely open the twitter API is, but that’s a different discussion!

Twitter search allows you to search to find conversation happening on any keywords and subscribe to it as a RSS feed. It is like have a Google SEM engine sending you customers to your RSS feed every 10 seconds.

*Growth Patterns Tells the Real Story of Divergent Paths

Facebook is growing at 1 Million users/month with increased internal users.
Twitter has an organic growth with more companies joining it and experimenting with it.

Twitter is a community or has several communities built into it with its own set of rules and accepted behaviors.

Eg. Adding #tags, #Fridayfollow at end of tweets on Fridays to recommend new friends to follow etc.

So as new users join twitter they enrich their community and become part of it sooner than facebook where the user has to go through the learning curve for each user one user at a time.


3. Besides the web, we can access Twitter and Facebook through cellphone.

4. Why do you think Twitter and Facebook are popular?

Twitter is popular because
-It’s quick


The 140 character limit strictly enforces length, which means that users can check people’s updates quickly and easily. It’s short and simple.

-It’s easily accessible
Users can receive updates on their computer, on their phone, on their BlackBerry, and sooner or later, by carrier pigeon. Twitter is easy to access anywhere you are, and nowadays, it’s a very important factor.

-It’s got a privacy factor to it
It may be surprising, but hearing about what someone is doing during their day, mundane or not, interests a lot of people.

-It’s entirely open
While it may creep some people out, it’s plays an important role in Twitter’s popularity. Anyone, whether or not they have an account, can read anyone’s updates.

-It’s free
If you want to be popular online, you’ve gotta be free. YouTube, Facebook, MySpace… they’ve all done it.



*Facebook is popular because:

-Upload unlimited photos.
Facebook is the most popular website for uploading photos. Not only can users upload unlimited photos, you can also add tags and put comments on your friends' photos. With tagging, we will know when your friends or your contacts add a picture of you in their album.

-Be 'in the know'.
Do you want to know what your friends are doing without using instant messaging softwares like Yahoo! Messenger or MSN? With Facebook's STATUS feature, you can see what your friends are up to without having to ask them - which can definitely save a lot of time and effort.
Interact with friends through games and other applications.

-Facebook changed the way people use applications for social networking websites.
Applications like games and tests (Poker, Trivia Games, Get-to-know-yourself tests, "What does your birthday mean?" test, "Are you Normal?" test, etc) are being used to encourage more social interaction through the Internet. You don't have to meet each other face to face to be able to play poker.

You can also join different groups and causes like anti-war or "Stop Global Warming". When joining these causes, you can contribute in any form such as online support or money.

-Send gifts!
With Facebook's Gift feature, you can select from hundreds of icons from Facebook's virtual gift shop and add a message to send to your friends. You can send flowers, shoes or even a bone to your friend's virtual pet. If it's a more personal gift, you have the option to give it privately so others wouldn't know. You can get from the free gifts section or if you have money to spare, you can get virtual gifts for $1.00.


5. What do you personally like about them?


I like to use Facebook because almost my friends are using them. I want to update their information, pictures and all the things about them through Facebook. I also can find the person I want to find just by their name. My friends and I can share to each other the information, pictures, stories or videos also. That's why I love Facebook.

I prefer Facebook than Twitter. Twitter is also interesting but because my friends are not using so I did not usually use them. Twitter is easy to use but it quite boring for me to use. However, I still like to sign in twitter to read quotes or tweet from some famous person.