I’m convinced that there are two types of people in this world, Facebook people and Twitter people. The two mediums of communication speak to people’s personality types.
On both “microblogging” sites you can share pictures, but it is certainly done more frequently on Facebook. Different people use each site as their way to interact socially with the world. On Facebook you can write lengthy posts while on Twitter you’re limited to 140 or, coming soon, 280 characters.
A word of advice for all you Facebookers who write posts so long that there has to be a “Preview” pane that ends with More… , if I have to turn the page to read the rest of your thoughts, I’m probably not going to. You know what it’s called when you write that much? It’s called blogging. Get a blog. Facebook is considered a microblogging site. If you write six paragraphs you’ve taken the micro out of it. And for the love of all that is holy, if you want us to read on you’ve got to make those first two or three sentences we see pretty damn snappy. It’s not that I don’t like you, it’s just that all those words can’t compete with the next post of Aunt Tilda’s kitten wearing a tiny hat.
That brings me to the length of Facebook and Twitter posts. If you prefer Facebook or blogging, you might be an oversharer. We accepted your friend request, so you know we like you. But just because you can share things about yourself doesn’t mean that you should. I think this next picture speaks to that quite well:
On Twitter, when we’re limited in what we say, people seem to gravitate towards finding their tribe of like thinkers. I follow sports people and funny people. For me, there is an elegance in Twitter that Facebook lacks. With a limit on characters, you’re challenged to communicate efficiently. It’s impressive how brilliant some are at communicating complex ideas or feelings in 140 characters.
Right now Twitter is beta testing, allowing some users to use 280 characters. For cripes sakes I hope Donald Trump isn’t one of them.
On Facebook you typically interact with family and friends from the “real world” in a comfortable fashion, often talking as you would in “normal” conversation. On Twitter you tend to have a much larger following of people who don’t know you IRL (in real life). Often on Twitter people take on anonymous identities with catchy names and mysterious avatars. That fact makes some Twitter people more brave than they would be on Facebook. Some are more brave about sharing personal info and others are more brazen in their opinions and interactions. Twitter is like a nightclub where under the guise of a fake identity you interact with strangers.
One medium is no better than the other. Each speaks to certain personality types. I wonder if future psychological diagnostic manuals will include the personality types of Facebook people and Twitter people. Or, in the future will people who walk around talking to people in person be considered the oddballs? Which type are you, Facebook or Twitter, and why?
Speaking of oddballs, why don’t you follow me on Facebook and Twitter!
Have a great Saturday! ~Phil
I think i’m definitely a Facebooker!
My fb account is generally a private one, whereas Twitter is public, I have more than 7k followers. So personal stuff and photos appear on fb while throwaway comments, current affairs, article reshares, impersonal pictures and suchlike are on Twitter. Don’t know if this fits your profile?
I’ve found that Twitter is just more fun for me. Facebook has turned into a chore that “requires” me to check it to make sure I haven’t missed an invitation to a family gathering or…well I guess that’s the only thing I’d be missing, really. I agree with the elegance of Twitter and the fun of interacting with strangers – I’m exposed to a plethora of people with different ideas and personalities (being expressed in no more than 140/280 characters), and Facebook just doesn’t match that.
Actually, there are 10 types of people in the world: those who understand binary, and those who don’t.
If you’re one of those that don’t, maybe you’ll better appreciate this one that just made the rounds on Twitter:
There are two types of people in this world:…
1) Those who can extrapolate from incomplete data;
Or, from Neil deGrasse Tyson:
“There are two kinds of people in the world — those who divide everyone into two kinds of people and those who don’t.”
But in answer to your question, I use both and see the merits of both. And I totally agree with your Facebook points: It must be a great hook, and not too long or you might as well be blogging.
I’m excited about the 280 character Tweet potentiality. That’s been my only quibble with Twitter: 140 character is often just not… quite… enou……… (and then the -25 in red makes me feel like an idiot…. or, far worse, an oversharer!! *shiver, shiver, shake!! *)
I love the Neil DeGrasse Tyson quote. I’m using a quote from him in the sequel to Time To Lie. I believe different kind of brains are attracted to the medium that serves their learning style.
Being a computer programmer, I’m partial to the binary quote. After all, counting in binary is as easy as 1, 10, 11!
I think I might be a hybrid
I use Facebook more for my personal stuff. I do have a page for my blog though. It’s weird because I never got into Twitter when I first used it about five years ago, not now I love it. Especially the hashtag chats. I’m happy to be an oddball 😀
Yes, Twitter is a wonderful place for people of every type to find others just like them. It’s a place where oddballs aren’t so odd.
Hi! I joined Twitter to practice brevity. I’m prone to long, complex sentences (and comma splicing if I’m honest).
I like Facebook because the human connection feels deeper. Though, I know social media is fundamentally the kiddie pool relative to actual face-to-face relationships. Facebook, at least how I use it, offers a kind of short-hand to what would otherwise be a two-hour once a year phone call to “catch up.”
Twitter, on the other hand is a puddle. I enjoy the quick conversations, and love the links or quotes I read. But, having a conversation on Twitter feels like talking to a stranger while waiting in line for a beer. Everyone else in line can hear you, but no one is really listening. That said, every once in a while, I’ve made a real, actual friend on Twitter. For those magic moments, I’ll keep stomping in the Twitter puddles, ever hopeful I’ll find something special within.
So how is that brevity practice going? LOL. I like your talking to a stranger while waiting for a beer analogy. It fits. Like you, I’ve found a few real people on Twitter.
Ha! I thought about just leaving that sentence only. But then again, I said I was practicing, not that I had perfected it! 🙂
Awesome metaphors! You’ve put me in a state of metaphoric euphoria!
Ha! Glad you like them. 🙂
On one hand I dislike the very transient nature of Twitter, but on the other hand my feed doesn’t get clogged up with pics of new babies and cute dogs!
Yes, who doesn’t hate babies and dogs?
I probably wouldn’t have Facebook if I didn’t have so many far away family and friends on there. I find Twitter to be a challenge, in a good way. I tend to be verbose and I like the editing practice I get having to say something funny in only 140 characters. I’m rather annoyed at the new 280 situation. It feels like all social media is just morphing into the others and the things that made them special are being watered down for mass appeal. God, I’m getting old.
I agree with you about the 280. I thought the same, that they’re turning Twitter into Facebook. I love twitter for the challenge of communicating so efficiently and to the point.
A might observation Phil and, in truth many of my FB feeds are now filled with information rather than “I’ve just had a cup of tea.” Which is nice, chances are so have I, but I feel disinclined to let anyone I know I’m not very creative when it comes to littering someone else’s timeline with the merits of hot beverages. Of course one might extol a tea preference with associated diatribe on the merits of why Earl Grey tasted like washing up liquid (my opinion and highly unfounded due to the subjective comparison as I have not had the privilege of supping washing up liquid). Hmmm, that’s tripping toward the word limit and moving from FB to blogging. Fortuitously I have that T-shirt and, it seems I have a lot to say upon tea. Maybe I did need to see someone was drinking tea after all as a writing prompt. Strange times indeed.
Twitter I find rather enigmatic; people keep following me and I am not sure why. I don’t use it as a tool to vent my wrath upon worldly matters of personal opinion. I have a blog for that, which shares to Twitter; oh, OK I do then. I can now leave entirely enlightened and have that cup of tea 🙂
I guess I’m a mix of both, but kind of like the Leslie Knope mem above, I have a slightly different persona on each respective social media. I’m not a rambler on Facebook– usually only posting quick captions to pictures, or sharing funny memes on my sister’s wall. On Twitter I try to be the Married Cat Lady and be funny(ish). Plus, Twitter is where most of my blog friends hang out, so I don’t want to be the loser that wasn’t invited to the party.
Well you do achieve your goal of being funny-ish
🙈😸
I think I’m a perfect combination of both! I’m slightly more angelic on Facebook, but on Twitter I don’t hold back 😍
…god knows why my comment ended with that emoji. I don’t remember putting it there. Maybe it was my angelic side coming out?
LOL, I didn’t even notice it or pay attention to it.
It just occurred to me to ask if you’re related to Hayley Beasley Dye?
Haha you know I am her, right? You were joking. Were you joking?
Facebook used to be my go to place for any and all thoughts. My ‘Memories on this Day’ are actually quite cringeworthy when I see that, ten years ago now, I wrote “I am bored” or something similar. Now, I use Facebook only to use the groups, to share photos that might be worthy of comment, and for the occasion ‘Tag in’ at a place so I can look back in a years time and think “Wow, one year since X”
Twitter, on the other hand, I started to use for my thoughts which were more just for me, with the occasional bit of merit if anyone wanted to agree or disagree with me. Twitter took over that cringey Facebook place to be just a large, noisey crowd I could share a thought or two into without it being my ‘update of the day’. I’ve stopped using Twitter as much the past few years, but that’s what it still is to me really.
I use both Twitter and Facebook. I’ve met awesome people on both sites, but I find Twitter has opened up my writing world by leaps and bounds. This is the positive side of social media and I like it. I’ve made many friends and “met” many people I wouldn’t have because of it. 🙂
I got a lovely (read: tacky) video thingy from Facebook a few days ago, congratulating me on 10 years with them. 10 YEARS ON FACEBOOK. Sheesh. It’s a part of me, it’s incredibly useful and I do love it a lot. It has its problems and so on, but overall it’s a positive thing for me. I do FB preening every so often, deleting people I met once in 2009 who just post “off to bed, work in the morning!” or people whose politics do my head in.
Twitter? Hmm. I can take it or leave it. It is wonderful for conversing with anyone and everyone, Twitter hashtag chats are brill, but I can’t quite get into the swing of it on a day to day basis. It seems like hard work, whereas FB just feels like another limb x
Facebook’s got my
Social meeting
Still don’t got the
Hang of tweeting!
I like communication that is straight to the point with less waffle, twitter is very new to me and so is FB, though both are great for communicating while travelling and blogging. More comfortable with FB, like Twitter for less waffle and some very witty pointed comments 🙂
I do not understand Facebook. Twitter is easier for me. I’ve tried to make Facebook work but it is impossible.
I’m just sort of tired of Facebook. It’s the same old same old from the same people.
🙂 I’m glad I don’t understand it then.
It has some usefulness as far as keeping up with friends and family but I don’t really need to know what people are making for dinner every night
😀
I’ve already seen a couple of 280 tweets and it looks painfully out of place. I’ve always loved Twitter because it’s HARD! It challenges the user to think about their message and it’s hard to gain a following. I consider my following on Twitter to be an accomplishment as it’s about my words/thoughts as opposed to THINGS,Vacations, body parts on Instagram!
Facebooker. If you see the lengths of most of my blog posts, you’ll understand why twitter doesn’t work for me.
This post has given me slight identity crisis. I am not sure if I’m a facebooker or a tweeter. Possibly a bit of both, while being rubbish at both of them.
I like that I can add gifs to everything on both platforms these days. 🙂
Like you, I think I’m a bit of both and generally rubbish at both as well.
I’m slowly learning Twitter. At first I was completely resistant. Now I’m starting to enjoy it more. Facebook really is becoming so bogged down.
Yes, bogged down is a good description. Feel free to follow me on twitter @thephilfactor and I’ll follow you back
Thanks! Just did 🙂
“Which type are you, Facebook or Twitter, and why?”
Neither. I’m just a part-time blogger and full-time browser.
No particular reason why ….
Do you browse FB and Twitter?
Good post!
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I am all for Twitter. Come to think of it, it’s not Facebook’s fault that your friends suck !
I love twitter so much the fun in it oh my word and don’t forget about the tackles people get in twitter streets. Information is also first hand as compared to Facebook. You can follow me @Joannicole6
Will do!
Haha enjoyed this so much!
Good! Thank you!
I was a big fan of FB, but it annoys me more than anything these days. I ran my own small business and any posts with a link in would disappear into the ether. Rather annoyingly, I didn’t start a Twitter account until I started blogging, and am now finding it really hard to attract followers. Hey ho, that’s a hard lesson learnt, I guess.
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