I'll be the first to admit that when I first signed up for Twitter, I didn't get it. If anything it seemed like the "dumbed down" version of Facebook to me. Where's all the extra goodies? Why can't you attach photos, videos and/or songs? Once I figured out how to do those things through other sites (and link to my Twitter timeline), it made a lot more sense to me. And today, I actually prefer Twitter to Facebook for these 3 reasons:
RSS Feeds
It's just shocking to me that Facebook hasn't added this yet. If you're like me, you have lots of people you follow on Facebook that simply have too much time on their hands. And between all the random "good morning Facebook" messages and the latest Farmville score, your viewable timeline can fill up pretty fast. In the meantime, you may miss some news from a dear friend or family member. So unless you go to visit each of their individual pages (because YOU have lots of time to do so, right?), you could miss out on some important information.
Twitter thought of such a scenario, and added an RSS subscription option on every contact's page. I have subscribed to several of my friends' RSS feeds to make sure I don't miss anything. Sadly, most of my friends and family are still on the Facebook bandwagon, and reluctant to switch over to Twitter. I keep telling them about all the tools out there to manage both, but that's a whole 'nother story.
Direct Messages from your mobile phone
Let's say your out and about and want to send a message to one of your friends, and let's say that this hypothetical friend doesn't have a cell phone (hard to fathom, I know). Can you send someone a direct/private message through Facebook Mobile? Nope! If you've set up that app on your Facebook account (which most of my friends don't know how to do), your only option is to send messages/files that are posted to your own wall.
But thanks to Twitter, you can send a direct message to that friend by just typing in 'd username', and sending to the Twitter mobile number. Your friend will receive a copy of the direct message through the site, and will also receive a copy of the message via e-mail (if that option is selected by your friend). Likewise, your friend can respond to you with a direct message, and you will receive that on your mobile phone as long as you have enabled that default option. So Twitter makes it easy to communicate with your followers without broadcasting to the rest of the world.
Lack of clutter
Ironically, one of the things I didn't like about Twitter is now one of the things I like most about it! There are no games on Twitter, no special groups you can join, and the "about me" page is so much simpler. If you take a look at your Facebook timeline, how much of it is filled with your contacts' scores on games and other random updates that really don't interest you? If I'm connected to someone that plays several rounds of a game, they can easily fill up my entire timeline in one day.
Twitter forces us to be more concise, and to just publish what really matters! Sometimes it is hard to get your point across in 140 characters or less, but it also helps cut down on the inane chatter. I follow many people in various different fields, some of which appear to have too much time on their hands as well. I'm thankful that some of those folks only have 140 characters at a time at their disposal.
So those are the biggest reasons that I prefer Twitter to Facebook. How about you?
RSS Feeds
It's just shocking to me that Facebook hasn't added this yet. If you're like me, you have lots of people you follow on Facebook that simply have too much time on their hands. And between all the random "good morning Facebook" messages and the latest Farmville score, your viewable timeline can fill up pretty fast. In the meantime, you may miss some news from a dear friend or family member. So unless you go to visit each of their individual pages (because YOU have lots of time to do so, right?), you could miss out on some important information.
Twitter thought of such a scenario, and added an RSS subscription option on every contact's page. I have subscribed to several of my friends' RSS feeds to make sure I don't miss anything. Sadly, most of my friends and family are still on the Facebook bandwagon, and reluctant to switch over to Twitter. I keep telling them about all the tools out there to manage both, but that's a whole 'nother story.
Direct Messages from your mobile phone
Let's say your out and about and want to send a message to one of your friends, and let's say that this hypothetical friend doesn't have a cell phone (hard to fathom, I know). Can you send someone a direct/private message through Facebook Mobile? Nope! If you've set up that app on your Facebook account (which most of my friends don't know how to do), your only option is to send messages/files that are posted to your own wall.
But thanks to Twitter, you can send a direct message to that friend by just typing in 'd username', and sending to the Twitter mobile number. Your friend will receive a copy of the direct message through the site, and will also receive a copy of the message via e-mail (if that option is selected by your friend). Likewise, your friend can respond to you with a direct message, and you will receive that on your mobile phone as long as you have enabled that default option. So Twitter makes it easy to communicate with your followers without broadcasting to the rest of the world.
Lack of clutter
Ironically, one of the things I didn't like about Twitter is now one of the things I like most about it! There are no games on Twitter, no special groups you can join, and the "about me" page is so much simpler. If you take a look at your Facebook timeline, how much of it is filled with your contacts' scores on games and other random updates that really don't interest you? If I'm connected to someone that plays several rounds of a game, they can easily fill up my entire timeline in one day.
Twitter forces us to be more concise, and to just publish what really matters! Sometimes it is hard to get your point across in 140 characters or less, but it also helps cut down on the inane chatter. I follow many people in various different fields, some of which appear to have too much time on their hands as well. I'm thankful that some of those folks only have 140 characters at a time at their disposal.
So those are the biggest reasons that I prefer Twitter to Facebook. How about you?