Taking Social Media to the Ring

Twitter vs. Facebook: the heavyweight battle between social media giants!

Social networking is becoming more and more a part of our daily routines, and it seems as though Twitter and Facebook are the final two competitors left standing in the ring, squaring off for the illustrious "social media title," if you will (I promise I'm almost done with the boxing references!).

I believe we still have a ways to go to find out who lands the final blow (last one, I swear), but the question is: who is winning the fight today?

The Rise of Social Networking

We live in the dotcom era...couple that with the continual advances in technology and you inevitably get the rise of social networking. In the past decade, we have shifted from networking and engaging with people in public, to networking from the comforts of our homes. The world is at our fingertips, and what better way to meet people than by sitting on the couch in sweatpants, drinking hot chocolate, playing games on our iPhones, and watching episodes of "Lost" via HuluPlus?!

I kid, but I have a point, right? Don't get me wrong, I understand the value of face-to-face communication/networking, but the vast reach of social media tools such as Twitter and Facebook is hard to ignore. The rates at which new users are joining Twitter and Facebook are jaw-dropping!

Bottom line, social networking is booming, and although we may be a ways off from crowning a winner, the fight is more intense, and meaningful, than ever.

Advantages & Disadvantages of Twitter

Twitter is quickly becoming a #1 promotional tool for bloggers, online marketers, and individuals or businesses trying to brand themselves. It is a quick and easy way to share your thoughts on a topic, promote a blog, and ultimately connect with like-minded users. The fast-paced nature of Twitter is appealing to most, and the instantaneous communication between users is becoming extremely valuable. Twitter users are constantly finding new and creative ways to communicate, promote, learn, discover, and collaborate with other users.

Twitter is easy to jump from one page to the next, allowing you to quickly meet and network with users from all around the world. Another key advantage of Twitter is its unbelievable reach. Twitter is experiencing unbelievable growth, and users are able to instantly connect with whomever they so choose.

Some disadvantages of Twitter could include the initial difficulty of finding people to follow (worth following), the 140 character per update limitation, the fact that not all users are active users, the high degree of noise/spam, and the over-emphasis on follower counts. 

Overall, Twitter is a fast-paced, highly interactive platform that allows users to casually communicate with others, or aggressively market and promote themselves and their blogs, websites, and so forth.

Some Statistic - Twitter

• Twitter now has 105,779,710 registered users.
• New users are signing up at the rate of 300,000 per day.
• 180 million unique visitors come to the site every month.
• 75% of Twitter traffic comes from outside Twitter.com (i.e. via third party applications.)
• Twitter gets a total of 3 billion requests a day via its API.
• Twitter users are, in total, tweeting an average of 55 million tweets a day.
• Twitter's search engine receives around 600 million search queries per day.
• Of Twitter's active users, 37 percent use their phone to tweet.
• Over half of all tweets (60 percent) come from third party applications.
• Twitter itself has grown: in the past year alone, it has grown from 25 to 175 employees.

(Huffington Post, April 2010)

Advantages & Disadvantages of Facebook


Facebook is a great way to stay connected with friends and family. Users of Facebook can easily create and maintain friendships via wall posts, FB chat, FB messages, photo albums, and more. It is a one-stop-social media-shop that allows them to manage their own lives, connections, and relationships all in one central platform.

It is very easy to find and connect with people on Facebook. The people you are communicating with are often your friends and family that you have known for years. Therefore, Facebook is more about maintaining connections rather than increasing the number of connections (i.e. Twitter followers).

Some disadvantages of Facebook could include the complexity of navigating from page to page, the less instantaneous form of communication, and the busy design of profiles (lots of advertisements, photos, applications, boxes, etc.).

Overall, Facebook is a social networking platform that allows users to stay connected with friends and family, share info/photos/notes/messages/videos/links all in one central application, and easily meet new friends and contacts.

Some Statistic - Facebook

• More than 500 million active users
• 50% of our active users log on to Facebook in any given day
• Average user has 130 friends
• People spend over 700 billion minutes per month on Facebook
• More than 70 translations available on the site
• About 70% of Facebook users are outside the United States
• Over 300,000 users helped translate the site through the translations application
• There are over 900 million objects that people interact with (pages, groups, events and community pages)
• Average user is connected to 80 community pages, groups and events
• Average user creates 90 pieces of content each month
• More than 30 billion pieces of content (web links, news stories, blog posts, notes, photo albums, etc.) shared each month.

(Facebook.com/press, 2010)

How I See It

Facebook is where I connect with the people I already know. Twitter is where I connect with people I want to know. I use Facebook to talk to old friends from high school, current friends from college, and my family. On the other hand, I use Twitter to promote this blog, meet new people/contacts, develop professional relationships, learn about topics I'm interested in (e.g. Marketing, Leadership), and follow the lives of people I could never be friends with (i.e. Athletes, Celebrities).

I use both platforms. More importantly, I use them the way they were designed to be used! I wouldn't want to have to choose between the two, simply because I use them for two entirely different purposes. However, I would give the slight edge to Twitter because of the instantaneous nature of communication. I also like the easy-to-use design of Twitter and the fact people have to limit their tweets and replies. But that's just my two cents...

So, Who is Winning the Fight Today?

That is the question, isn't it? It is hard to say. Both Twitter and Facebook are growing rapidly, and neither have shown signs of letting up. It will be interesting to ask this question in about five years!


Which do you prefer, Twitter or Facebook? Who do you think is winning the fight today?


Topics Discussed: Social Media, Social Networking, Twitter, Facebook