Which Social Networking site works best for you - Twitter or Facebook? « Graphic Design Blog - An Ultimate Resource for Graphic Designers

Which Social Networking site works best for you - Twitter or Facebook?

28 Comments

Posted on Tuesday, July 21st, 2009

With the rising craze for social media, every blogger is found actively participating on different social networking platforms. However, with the growing popularity of social media, it is hard to say which network should be tagged as the 800-pound gorilla of the social world.

Here I would specifically name “Twitter” and “Facebook” which are attracting new users at astounding rates and seem to be the most dominating sites. I am not drawing a competition between “Twitter” and “Facebook” as they both are different from each other in many ways.

1) How Different are Twitter and Facebook?

Facebook is specifically meant to reconnect with old friends and family members while Twitter does not proves to be friend-meeting destination.
On facebook you connect within your specific network while twitter allows you to update everyone about you.
Features like email, instant messaging, image and video sharing, etc. are quiet simple at facebook while Twitter is a bit harder to get your arms around initally.

2) Reasons to loveTwitter:

Simple to navigate and add updates
Exposes you to a wider world except few family members and friends.
Many other applications being developed (Twitterific, Summize, Twhirl, etc.)
A pure communication tool and brings in rapid responses.
Anyone can follow anyone without filling in any formailities.

3) Reasons to love Facebook:

Facebook is a real treat for the people who are strongly addicted of staying connected with friends or eager to make new acquaintances.
People are rarely using email or IM tools on anyother online social communications anymore, relying almost entirely on Facebook for email, chat, image and video sharing.
You have the option to share your privacy with limited connections and family through private and public profiles
Facebook can prove to be a powerful advertising platform.

4) Is twitter a growing threat for facebook?

Considering the fame of twitter and facebook, when was the last time you saw an interesting post on Del.icio.us, Digg, StumbleUpon, or MySpace? Tellin you honestly, I have a feeling that the twitter and facebook obsession has overtaken people’s intrest for you-tube as well…don’t you think so?

So now, this year when facebook is officially turning five years old, do you think the growing popularity and traffic of twitter, can be threatening for facebook in sometime? People are claiming to be spending maybe an hour or two a week on Facebook, while majority of the day dipping in and out of Twitter. Just check these recent research stats, which might help us know the future

According to analytics company Compete.com, Facebook has posted another month of growth, reaching over 122 million monthly U.S. visitors. However, Twitter is also continuing its growth trend, climbing to 22 million visitors in the past month just within the United States

Stats of Twitter

Stats of Facebook

5) Which Social Network is working best for you?

Don’t you guys feel as if social media marketing has “evolved” to the point where Twitter and Facebook, seems to be the only contestants. The mainstream attention these two sites are gaining, is making all other sites vanish from the screen :S.

Anyhow…now I am done with providing you all the info about these two social media hotshots, I have lot to ask you guys:

Qs1: Which of these two social media giants is more workable and profitable for Graphic Designers?

Qs 2: Can Twitter or Facebook become the next Google or will they be gone with the wind in next few years?

28 Appreciated Responses

Joey On July 21st, 2009 at 8:03 am

1

A very well written article. Great job.

You also might want to read this article on Twitter where a study says that Twitter Leaps 1,989% and is the #1 social networking site for the sixth month in a row this year.

Here is the link -
http://www.webguild.org/2009/07/top-social-media-sites-twitter-leaps-1989.php?p=p2

Joe

Go Inspire On July 21st, 2009 at 9:02 am

2

Twitter is my choice. It’s simple, quick, and full of so much useful info. I believe in learning something new everyday, and I just can’t do that on facebook like I can on Twitter.

Marija On July 21st, 2009 at 9:03 am

3

I use both, but Facebook works better for me, because, like you said, it lets you control your privacy and share your thoughts with a selective group of people.
Their ads are sort of annoying, but I mainly ignore them.

nicopywriter On July 21st, 2009 at 11:19 am

4

Ive been on twitter for about 3 weeks and I’m not really sure how to use it.
In fact, everyone is posting links and links and sometimes also links. And the only thing you can do with it is following the link and find a very good article on some blog about social networks…

Maybe Twitter can be more relevant for shops or restaurants which will propose special offers to their LOCAL followers.

Facebook might be more adapted to people (like me) who propose service as they can present their work in some slideshow to their community of knowned friends;

I guess the biggest difference is the fact that you know your network on facebook better than your followers on Twitter…

can also make a difference regarding the country you’re in (in France Twitter does not meet a real success right now)

nicopywriter On July 21st, 2009 at 11:20 am

5

by the way, my Twitter account ; )
@lecritducube

traviche On July 21st, 2009 at 6:52 pm

6

Spell check please. It burns!

Barbara Haviland On July 21st, 2009 at 9:39 pm

7

I create fine art for you.

Barbara Haviland On July 21st, 2009 at 9:40 pm

8

Twitter works best for me.

Sayz On July 22nd, 2009 at 4:20 am

9

Qs1: Which of these two social media giants is more workable and profitable for Graphic Designers?
My vote goes to twitter, I personally encounter many talented graphic designer using twitter since they are connected one to another. And, it’s simple to manage it. Compared to FB, to achieve the same result, it is definitely harder.

Qs 2: Can Twitter or Facebook become the next Google or will they be gone with the wind in next few years?
Not so fast, Google has an incredible team…

Graphic Designer Suffolk On July 22nd, 2009 at 4:37 am

10

Neither works for me. Much rather talk to real people and phone real clients up. Twitter and Facebook are just used as a lazy way of contacting people.

A u d e e On July 22nd, 2009 at 4:42 pm

11

Twitter and Facebook are definitely fun for connecting people, but I don’t think they bring much traffics compared to Google. Unless you are a profilic user either for Twitter or Facebook, yet I still consider they work in smaller scope of communities or targeted readers. Thanks for inviting me into this discussion

joyoge designers' bookmark On July 22nd, 2009 at 5:55 pm

12

great article thanks for post..
my twitter: http://twitter.com/joyoge

Emily Reed On July 23rd, 2009 at 1:31 am

13

I vote for Twitter! Facebook is just downright annoying most of the times

Emily Reed On July 23rd, 2009 at 1:34 am

14

My answer for Q.2 http://tinyurl.com/q7p442

lynna @emarketed On July 23rd, 2009 at 2:26 pm

15

Thanks for the great comparison of the two! I think both are equally useful and I’m having a hard time picking one over the other.

diseño comunicacion visual On July 23rd, 2009 at 2:50 pm

16

Muy buen blog de diseño! great blog! thanks from Argentina.

STRAIGHTALK On July 28th, 2009 at 8:26 pm

17

NICE ARTICLE HONESTLY..

Cory On July 29th, 2009 at 9:03 am

18

I really like Facebook because of the trust factor. I trust my facebook friends more than my Twitter followers, and I can rely on them more for design help, collaboration, and useful articles.

I have created a fan page for Graphic designers to get information daily about latest trends and tutorials. You can find it at:

http://www.facebook.com/yourgraphics

Student Talk On July 30th, 2009 at 1:33 am

19

Interesting topic, thank you for sharing…

VandeVisser On August 3rd, 2009 at 8:17 am

20

In regard to:

“5) Which Social Network is working best for you?
Don’t you guys feel as if social media marketing has “evolved” to the point where Twitter and Facebook, seems to be the only contestants. The mainstream attention these two sites are gaining, is making all other sites vanish from the screen :S.”

This is very very true and is the way of most all consumer product categories end up. It always ends up being a two horse race. Look at all your major categories, Coke-Pepsi, Mc Donald’s-Burger King, Fed Ex- UPS….This is because the consumer can only remember a few brands in any given product category. Test yourself in various brands. You can always remember the first TWO, after that, it gets harder. It has to do positioning and it is good info for designers to have a handle on. I suggest reading “22 Immutable Laws of Marketing” Jack Trout- Thanks for the article!!!

Dan Contogiannis On August 6th, 2009 at 4:02 pm

21

I hate em both! haha, Why do people feel the need to have a million other know exactly what they are doing at every second of the day? I guess everyone wants to feel special?

Jocelyn Mozak On August 6th, 2009 at 7:10 pm

22

This is great information. It is critical for small business to know where to invest their resources when choosing which forms of social media to use for marketing.
As a small business I know I should be using twitter but personally I prefer Facebook. I think I prefer the ability to continue a train of thought on fb with comments. With twitter each tweet feels disconnected from the last

designstd On August 9th, 2009 at 3:58 am

23

I tried facebook and twitter in marketing some of my websites as a test, twitter keeps getting you new visitors every hour but facebook is not intended for this purpose but most of facebook visitors are kids

So i go for twitter

Peter Van Dyke On August 10th, 2009 at 3:17 am

24

We had a company called Drive do some interactive and usability classes at out work place. I’m not sure how helpful they would be if you have designers that have a strong interactive background but they did wonders for how we understand and plan interactive now. We did mostly print design and with more and more web work coming in we needed a quick schooling to keep up. They talked a little about Facebook and Twitter. They had a good check list we now use to review a clients needs but a lot of it has to do with how frequently you have updates. Since Twitter is mostly focused on updates you better have a lot or it gets boring to follow your tweets. Facebook has other features that can make your page a resource for people, even between infrequent status updates. Interaction with other fans for one. Drive may have some info on their site.

http://www.start-to-drive.com

Social Networking Designer On August 18th, 2009 at 3:19 am

25

thank you for sharing the great article….

Blogger Den On December 10th, 2009 at 9:57 pm

26

Marketing with both Twitter and Facebook is preferable… it allows for a much wider audience and you can gain a huge burst of traffic from both.

CoachMhairi On January 19th, 2011 at 9:31 am

27

Once I learned to use # I saw the point of Twitter! I now love it.

vicki On April 27th, 2011 at 8:18 pm

28

Thank you for the great article. I am new in my own business and I am looking for info on social networking. This article told me the two most probable tools to use would be FB & Twitter. Now to just learn the ins and outs, and pros and cons of use…it is a little daunting.