Facebook or Twitter??

If you are like most people being swept away by the social media tidal wave, you have likely considered the question..... Facebook or Twitter for my online marketing campaign?
Well, in my perfect world they wouldn't have to be mutually exclusive, it wouldn't have to be one or the other. But it does seem that one of these two giants will eventually reign supreme and doom the other to the same fate as Beta-max videos and HD dvds... so in which one should we invest more effort? At this point its almost a coin flip, but i will outline the pros and cons of both... and you can decide your self.

Facebook (aka The Book, Face, F-book, FB)
By far the more widely utilized platform of the two, its almost emms possible that FB has stolen the title of "America's favorite pass time" from baseball...dare i say that Zuckerberg is the new Jeter?
FB offers a range of services from video/pic sharing to online gaming to instant messaging. In only 4 or 5 years, FB has changed how we all interact. For dedicated FB users, email and instant messaging services such as Hotmail and MSN Messenger have been rendered almost useless. FB now acts as a one stop shop for email, IM and image/video sharing, pretty powerful stuff right? Lets examine FB's Pros and Cons

PROS
- Extremely large user base, which is growing exponentially. Allows for large audience for ads
- With the user friendly advertising platform, FB ads can be set up in a matter of minutes
- Easy to find and stay connected to friends and business associates
- Usefulness is easily recognizable to new users
- Wide range of applications allowing users to share media, chat, email, send gifts
- Extremely addictive (this could also fall into the CON category, you make the call)

CONS
- Not as easy to navigate as Twitter
- Users are inundated with so many "invites" that ads can easily be lost in the clutter.
- The massive accessibility to application creation has bloated what was once a trim interface
- Users must be willing to invest extended amounts of time to effectively use FB
- So much going on that simple (often the most important) messages can be hard to convey
- Seems to lack focus, instead of sticking to its original platform, FB continues to expand into new and sometimes distracting realms

Bottom Line - Facebook is an extremely powerful social tool with an exceptional user base... but its clutter takes away from its attractiveness as a marketing tool.


Twittter (aka What's Twitter?)
The new, sexy and intriguing social media. Twitter is like the new kid in school. But more than that.... its like the new kid in a rural school who just moved from the city. Just as we were all getting used to the unbelievable power and scalability of FB, Twitter hits the scene, with a simpler and less distracting interface. As backwards as it may sound, Twitter offers less but has the ability to provide more (if Twitter steals that tag line, I want you all to remember where you heard it first)... Limiting its users to status updates (140 characters or less) and the odd picture upload... Twitter seems to be a scaled down and focused version of Facebook. But don't sell all your Facebook stocks just yet... lets examine the new kid's pros and cons first.

PROS
- Focused, simple, easy concept to grasp
- Allows users to create instant updates from different mobile platforms (web or cell phone)
- Focuses mainly on updates which allows for better access to things important messages (band's concert listings, important business developments, news article links)
- The mobility of the Twitter model can act as a reliable mobile news source... see examples HERE and HERE
- You dont have to be logged in to an account to receive updates (RSS feeds are readily available from anywhere)

CONS
- Many people cannot quite understand the inherent usefulness
- Limited to only short updates (140 characters)
- Messaging directly to one of your followers requires a strange "@" or "RT" process
- Does not allow for extensive media sharing
- Fairly limited capabilities

Bottom Line - Smaller user base than Facebook, and not as diverse. But much easier to disseminate ideas, and easier to get your business/message noticed.


So... what's the answer?

With a much larger user base, Facebook seems to be the more powerful raw tool at this point in time. If you are using these sites to stay in touch with friends and have fun, Facebook is the unequivocal winner over Twitter.... but due to the "scatterbrain" nature of facebook's interface, it simply doesn't stack up to the effectiveness of Twitter as a social media marketing tool.
Facebook has gone the way of the 13-24 yr old demographic by allowing for a vast selection of applications that in the grand scheme of things are essentially trinkets. These trinkets serve as distractions from any important messages and ads that are trying to be shared. Finding a relevant business message on Facebook is kind of like trying to find a toothpick in a stack of wood chips.
Twitter on the other hand has focused on the sharing of instant and relevant information without any distractions. Twitter's usability and accessibility is far simpler than Facebook's and thus is a much more powerful business tool.

It remains to be seen how these two sites will evolve, but for now it seems that Twitter is much more useful from a business standpoint.... Isn't the new kid always the coolest?


Alex Arnold
Founder,
2AM Marketing
2AMCanada@gmail.com