Yes, this is my Throwback Thursday post. When I posted this a year ago I thought it was a good post, but I had no idea the interest it would draw. Over 17,000 views in one day. I hope it’s as well received this time.
Since 2004 Facebook is the brand name associated with social media. Twitter has been something of a much maligned younger sibling in the social media world since it stumbled home drunk two years later. That is the difference between Facebook people and Twitter people.
On Facebook everyone is a polished, Cosby Show/Brady Bunch version of themselves. On Twitter everyone seems to be the sarcastic, hungover, Jackass version of themselves.
There’s a chance Mark Zuckerberg will sue me for using the word Facebook 800 times in this blog post. Twitter will buy me a shot and retweet the link to this 800 times.
If Facebook and Twitter were movies, Facebook would be The Little Mermaid and Twitter would be The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
On Facebook you can follow all manner of celebrity but you’re still held back by a velvet rope. It’s a one way street of communication. On Twitter, if @AmandaBynes says she just set a fire in her driveway I can suggest she throw water on it and she might even thank me.
@shaylamaddox: Twitter makes me like people I’ve never met and Facebook makes me hate people I know in real life
On Facebook if George Takei posts a hilarious picture of Spock and Captain Kirk engaged in relations I can’t ask George where he got it or if William Shatner would mind if I posted it. Doing research for this I used Twitter to contact the artist, Kiersten Essenpreis, of the cartoon above and the person Shayla Maddox, another artist, who actually tweeted the caption inspiring the cartoon. That’s Twitter, where everyone gets down in the mud and wrestles with everyone else. Click their names to check out Shayla and Kiersten’s websites. They’re both very talented artists.
On Facebook I post pictures of all my festive holiday ties. On Twitter I wear a t-shirt with the sleeves cut off to show off my tattoo.
Typical Facebook status by me: Only 8 hours until I’m on vacation!
Typical Tweet by @FunkyFresh_79: I just saw a pancake in a tutu outside of IHOP and I’m not sure if aroused is a strong enough word for what I’m feeling right now.
Don’t get me wrong. like a parent with two kids, I love both Twitter and Facebook equally, but in different ways. On Facebook you find old friends and on Twitter you make new friends. Facebook is a class reunion while Twitter is the first day, or maybe night, staying in a college dorm. You have to be invited to the Facebook party while on Twitter, party crashing is encouraged.
SquirrelArmy Tornado @Mikecanrant: Stuffing a bag of live chickens in the microwave for 3 minutes does NOT make popcorn chicken. In fact, it makes a mess. A horrible mess.
Before you get the wrong impression about my thoughts on Twitter and Facebook, let me tell you how I got sucked in. A year and a half ago I set up a Twitter account but rarely used it. Then I tuned into Twitter during the Super Bowl and it was like a great big conversation about the game; like you’d have in a bar talking with friendly strangers. A few months after that I was on a business trip to Florida when suddenly I felt a little buzz in my pocket. A Twitter notification? I had never gotten one before! I only had 34 followers at the time. @GregoryGAllen, an author and HuffPo columnist whom I had never heard of, was tweeting out to his over 3,000 followers that he was reading my novel White Picket Prisons. I was stunned and amazed. I had no idea how he found me. I messaged him to ask and it turns out that a blog post of mine had gained some viral traction and had been shared by one of his Facebook friends. In that instance, without any crude jokes, Twitter and Facebook came together to make something amazing happen.
This is a perfect example of Twitter:
Chris Sherk @TheIronSherk: All of my life has led to this moment, trying to write the perfect Meatloaf tweet Once I do, everything else will be gravy.
That’s Twitter for you. Not everyone will get the joke, but the right people will.
As always, if you enjoyed #ThePhilFactor please share by clicking the Facebook, Twiitter and re-blog buttons below. Have a great Thursday! ~Phil
This post almost makes me want to open a Twitter account. Almost 🙂
You should. You choose who you follow and you can find people with similar interests. I’d follow you!
… and I would most definitely follow you! 🙂
You can find me @ThePhilFactor : )
I opened a Twitter account…..I think….can’t figure out how to use it and have decided that IG is as far as I’m going in the world of social media. Your observation about the Cosby Show version of ourselves presented on FB is brilliant.
Thanks. Twitter is good for more than just making jokes. I complained on Twitter to Southwest Airlines about a flight delay and they responded and gave me $150 voucher towards my next ticket purchase.
You may also like to write about FB vs blogging!
Thanks! I’ll try to think of something.
I remember this one. At the time, I didn’t understand Twitter at all. Now I understand it, but still don’t GET it. Glad it’s working out for you though. As for FB, like that comment about disliking people you already know. Now THAT I get.
I know. People I was friends with years ago grew up into people who have terrible beliefs on a variety of things I know I’m completely right about.
That’s exactly how I feel!
Glad to hear the two world collided for you. I’m still trying to figure out Twitter (@ssarcasmica)
Learning twitter is kind of like learning how to swim by being thrown in the ocean. You just have to jump in and flail around until you figure it out. It is a good way to get new blog fans too. I shall go follow you now.
Facebook is where I post “nice” or “neutral” things. Twitter is where I rant about traffic and what just happened on The Walking Dead.
(if you don’t want spoilers, don’t be on Twitter the night a show airs!)
Yup, you get the difference!