The debate has been raging for ages (at least in Internet time).
Facebook was once the “contender” against MySpace. That didn’t last too long, but soon Twitter emerged as a pseudo-social-network-competitor-thingy to Facebook and the competition heated up again.
Whether or not that competition is valid is arguable since:
- Twitter incorporates the communication and sharing aspect of social networking but is in many ways easier defined as a microblogging news aggregation site, sort of.
- Facebook has nearly 10 times more users, hundreds more features, and thousands more apps.
- Twitter has a clear business model, but only a dozen people in the universe know exactly what that is, while Facebook has dozens of business models, but nobody in the universe knows exactly what they are.
Still, these and many other glaring differences do not take away from the human need to compare the two and argue about them since they are the biggest “buzz” in social media right now (sorry Google).
Here, you will find several pieces of content that take the argument in one direction or another. Some bring up MySpace, LinkedIn, or other social networks. Rather than rehash them, I’ll give them to you to decide what goes where. Why rehash when we have the power of “link and regurgitate”? After all, that’s the way of the Internet today.
Facebook vs Twitter Infographic
(via Flickr)
Articles that (attempt to) Answer the Question of “Twitter vs Facebook”
- Web Strategy Matrix: Google Buzz vs Facebook vs MySpace vs Twitter (Web Strategy by Jeremiah Owyang)
- Moving Pixels: Facebook vs Twitter (Pop Matters)
- Facebook vs. Twitter Clickthroughs: More Bang For Your Buck (htmlist)
- Twitter Versus Facebook, A Comparison Of The Top Users (AllFacebook)
- Sharing on Facebook vs. Sharing on Twitter (Digital Inspiration)
- Buzz vs. Facebook vs. Twitter and Us (The Relationship Economy)
- Fight: Facebook vs Google vs Twitter (iTWire)
- Web Faceoff: Twitter vs. Facebook (Mashable)
- Twitter vs. Facebook Analysis: What Users Want (Internet News)
- Twitter vs. Facebook – Battle of the Social Goliaths (Inventor Spot)
- Twitter versus Facebook: Should you Choose One? (Twitip)
- Facebook vs. Twitter: How will you stream your world? (CNet)
- Twitter vs. Facebook: Who Will Win in Real-time Search? (Mashable)
- Tools of choice: Twitter vs. Facebook (Social Media Today)
- The Coming Facebook-Twitter Collision (Business Week)
Twitter vs Facebook Cartoon
(via Hubspot)
Another Facebook vs Twitter Infographic
(via TheNextWeb)
It doesn’t really matter. At the end of the day, it’s all a matter of preference. Most Twitter users use Facebook. Most very active Facebook users are on Twitter now or will be sometime this year. Whatever it takes to enjoy, share, learn, and engage, that’s what is important. Who will win in the end?
Us.
Read more about Twitter and Facebook on this Social Media Blog.