Facebook vs. Twitter
It's no surprise that Facebook envies the recent attention Twitter has been receiving. Even Oprah jumped on the tweeting bandwagon. However, when people start to compare the two services, it's like comparing apples to oranges.
Sure, they're both social networking platforms, but Facebook has to focus less on what attracts people to Twitter and more on what they do well themselves. Facebook blew past MySpace in the social networking race and has maintained that position ever since because of the elegance of their system. Now, Facebook is trying to make their service more like Twitter, replacing statuses with "What's on your mind?", and trying to display all news as a continual flow. This is a step backwards for a complex data site that needs a sense of hierarchy in data.
All in all, Facebook is in a league of its own, receiving almost ten times more traffic than Twitter. However, if this is to stay the case, Facebook needs to realize the purpose of their own site and not try to overcomplicate what was once terribly simple.
Permanent Link · Published on April 30th, 2009