Friday, March 27, 2009

Twitter vs. Facebook


Am getting sucked into it kicking and screaming, but just can't avoid trying these guys out...afterall being in touch with the latest is one thing our clients expect out of us...
Here is a wonderful interview with Chris Brogan that explains a whole lot about how the world of blogging/facebook/twitter etc. works.

Particularly like this bit below drawing the differences between facebook and twitter---
Twitter is much more lightweight than Facebook. The barrier to entry is so much smaller. You can use a cell phone to do it. You can use a desktop computer. You can use any Web browser in the world. There are multiple ways to get a conversation going. So that's the first point, that it's very easy for the masses to make messages go back and forth.

It's restrictive in the same way that a haiku or a sonnet is restrictive and makes interesting poetry. Twitter's restriction is that you're allowed 140 characters or less to answer the question, "What are you doing?" I tell people to re-write that question to, "What has your attention?" because that answer is almost always more interesting. Twitter is just a faster one-to-many platform. Biz Stone, one of its founders, often calls it a multi-modal messaging platform. It allows you to talk back and forth with "friends" or you can read what they have to say and just stalk.

Facebook is a lot richer in its interaction opportunities. There are games, videos, small message spaces called walls, and an internal email system. Facebook allows you to express a lot more personality and have more presence. You can join groups in Facebook.