The Epic Battle: Facebook vs. Twitter

With all this talk about Facebook’s new tagging feature using @ replies, many people are speculating that this could be the end of Twitter as we know it. But, I think that’s premature. While Facebook may be doing its best to hone in on Twitter’s market share, the reality is that some fundamental differences exist between the two mediums that are unlikely to change.

For most people, Facebook is a place for current friends, and Twitter is a place to make new friends. Sure, some of your Twitter followers may be face-to-face friends of yours, and you may occasionally accept a friend request from a friend of a friend on Facebook, but in general? Twitter is used to start conversations and follow new people you’ve likely never met. Facebook, on the other hand, is used to keep in touch with old friends, co-workers and family. The two are vastly different.

For businesses rather than individuals, the two mediums share more similarities.  Facebook fans and Twitter followers are a similar audience – people who show an interest and appreciation for your business. But would it really benefit marketers if Facebook were to overtake Twitter? Probably not.

Having the two separate mediums allows us to try new and different approaches to our audiences using each. On Twitter, we can reach out to specific individuals, post witty snippets and encourage Re-Tweets. On Facebook, we can use our pages to post more substantial content, direct our audience there for a full brand experience, and encourage commentary from our fans. Different tactics for different mediums. And I, for one, like it that way.

But heck, competition encourages innovation, and the more cool new features the two sites come up with, the better! So, let’s see what they can do – and how we can maximize our utilization.

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