Comments on: Facebook Isn’t Going to Kill Twitter

By: Miguel Armaza

Miguel Armaza — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 21:49:00 +0000

I just noticed you included one of my comments in your article. That’s cool, thanks. follow me on Twitter: @globalresident

By: Adrienne @adriwill

Adrienne @adriwill — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 18:40:00 +0000

FB and Twitter serve different purposes for me. Facebook is for people I actually KNOW. Know to varying degrees, but know. I can put up information about my family and my job on FB and feel like there is an audience of people who know me and know my family and have context.

Twitter, on the other hand, is my public voice and ear. My friends and family don’t twitter. Of the 90 people I follow, I’ve met 2 of them. My followers haven’t met me either. Twitter is a chance to learn from interesting people and do my best to be interesting in return. No family stuff, no job stuff; t’s too public. My heart is still out there on Twitter, but not so much the names and addresses.

By: Zach

Zach — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 13:49:01 +0000

Eli,

“infosluts”

Brilliant!

By: Steve K.

Steve K. — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 20:12:23 +0000

Just to clarify, Eli, I’m not saying Twitter is going to “kill” Facebook either. I’m simply saying that Facebook is not going to “kill” Twitter by opening up the status update API. I think what you’re saying about Facebook is correct.

I’m a big fan of Facebook, don’t get me wrong. It is super-intuitive. It’s an RSS reader for all of my friends who don’t have a clue what an RSS reader is. And it’s a blog to all of my friends who don’t have a clue what a blog is. Facebook takes that stuff and makes it intuitive and use-able for so many people, which is great.

At the end of the day, Twitter has carved out its own niche, with its own audience/userbase, and I think it’s going to continue to grow and gain that mainstream audience. I could be wrong, though, also. Time will tell …

By: eli

eli — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 19:47:04 +0000

One more point – Let’s not forget the voyeur/exhibitionist tendencies that people have which are much better served on FB. I follow Dave Winer for example on Twitter. Many times, he’s having conversations with people via Twitter that I am only privy to half of. That doesn’t happen on FB. If FB notifies me of the conversation (through its black-box algorithm), I can easily see the rest of the conversation, and easily add my own two cents.

By: eli

eli — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 19:42:36 +0000

Hey Steve, good thoughts. If 2009 is to be a big year for Twitter, it’s going to have to reach a critical mass, and I have a hard time figuring out how it’s going to do that. I, like you, have tons more “followers/friends” in FB, and I think that will always be the case for a few reasons.

First, Facebook has multimedia baked in. To get multimedia out of Twitter you have to link out to another service, usually using a shortened URL. Shortened URLs scare people.

Second, most casual internetters (the people who would need to use Twitter to reach the critical mass) have one track minds. They don’t all browse with tabs. They don’t all like changing windows. And they don’t all like to read. Facebook tricks them into reading with its pictures, videos, pieces of flair, little green patches, etc. etc. Facebook is TV+, Twitter is the newspaper with links to pictures.

Third, the ease of interactivity isn’t quite there yet with Twitter. I know how to send direct messages, retweet, and reply to messages, but for my wife or kids to do it, I would have to train them. Not so on FB. It’s more intuitive. I didn’t have to tell my wife or kids how to use Facebook. They were FBing like pros minutes after setting up their accounts. This is not an insignificant fact.

So, Twitter might be great for infosluts like us, but not for casual surfers. I agree with you and also don’t think FB will kill Twitter, primarily because those fighting for Twitter do so on principle. But will it get better than FB? Not soon. Not without a good business model, and it’s not going to get that business model without an audience.

By: Adam G.

Adam G. — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 16:34:21 +0000

For quite a while I had no use for Twitter, until I realized I didn’t really have to answer the question about what I was doing. I now use it as a sort of personalized news feed. I know some people don’t like this approach, but no one has to follow me on Twitter. I use my Facebook to tell friends what I’m up to.

By: Zach

Zach — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 15:50:58 +0000

I am an avid FB and Twitter user. I have refused to sync my twitter with my FB status updates b/c I like to express myself in different venues. My twitter conversation is a different context than my FB friends, though they share some of the same people.

Twitter and FB status updates can both be “bulletin” type forms of expression, however, twitter can morph into a conversation.

My random thought = this only matter to people like me who live in front of the laptop.

By: runnergirllkn (Sandy Aichner)

runnergirllkn (Sandy Aichner) — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 05:59:59 +0000

RT @knightopia: Just Posted: “Facebook Isn’t Going to Kill Twitter” – http://is.gd/iUIN – please retweet

By: igneousquill (igneousquill)

igneousquill (igneousquill) — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 05:59:59 +0000

“Facebook Isn?t Going to Kill Twitter “http://tinyurl.com/bxvpls