UPDATE (4/19): I have rejoined Twitter and am back in full force. Twitterific is key.
Last year I wrote about the maddeningly static nature of Twitter (as opposed to the more dynamic — and human — way Facebook’s status updates function) for Carpe Media. Now I have this lovely excerpt from “Here’s Why Facebook’s All Aflutter Over Twitter” by Michael Learmonth (AdAge, March 23, 2009) to back me up. [Article may not link for AdAge non-subscribers, sorry. But you should subscribe! It's great.]
MY SUMMARY OF LEARMONTH’S TAKE: For the last time, people, Twitter will never make money, but it’s got so many eyeballs at this point that poor Zuckerberg is worried sick. His paranoid-tinged remedy, the “New Facebook,” is a failure not only because the “Old Facebook” (by which I mean earlier in 2009) was pretty damn good, but because no one wants to be reminded of Twitter when they’re on Facebook, except those annoying people who update both at the same time when they’re in airport lounges/the dry cleaners/sitting next to you at dinner.
The rub, according to ML: “Last week Facebook moved further into Twitter territory by allowing users to open their profiles — and status updates — to the public, letting users to speak to people who follow them but whom they don’t necessarily know. In other words, like Twitter. But why would Facebook, quickly becoming the web’s 800-pound gorilla, try to stop everyone’s favorite little microblogger?”
Why Facebook is Better: “In some ways, Facebook one-ups Twitter by allowing responses beneath an update, facilitating conversation threads that can be more difficult to follow on Twitter. ‘Conversations have gotten much more linear and in-depth on Facebook,’ said Geoff Livingston, CEO of Livingston Communications.”
Why Facebook Felt Pressure to Imitate Twitter: “In February, Facebook claimed 6% of time spent online in the U.S., more than any other property, according to Compete. Any alternative or intermediary — Twitter can be used as either — threatens that engagement.”
Why Facebook Really Shouldn’t Sweat It: At present, [Twitter] is a messaging platform, not a media property. But if Facebook caps Twitter’s growth or slows it down, it will make it that much harder for Twitter to resist Google, Yahoo or Microsoft if and when they come knocking.
Seriously, the Cream Will Rise to the Top: Plenty of observers think that, regardless of what Facebook does, the two can coexist. While Twitter appeals to a subset of Facebook’s audience, they’re used for different purposes. Facebook users tend to connect to all their friends and family, while on Twitter, they only “follow” the interesting or useful ones, and dump the rest.
Readers are Spitting Out Twitter on Facebook (Except for Those Annoying Folks Who DO Update Both at the Same Time With Their Blackberries, and Yes, I Said BlackBerries, Because The Kind of People Who Do That Clearly Aren’t Cool Enough for iPhones): As of last week, more than 800,000 Facebook users had weighed in on the new design, nearly all voting “thumbs down.” A sample comment: ‘Frustrating to navigate. If I wanted Twitter I’d go there!’”
(Bold/italics mine)
