Facebook™, since its inception in early 2004, has grown exponentially and is now the most widely used social networking site on Earth. Even in just the past year, so much has changed - from who is allowed to use the site to the tools available for users.
Twitter™, founded two years after Facebook™, has become more commonly known in the last year, and is really gaining momentum in the marketing world. The question surrounding these two fast-growing social networks is this: Are the competing against each other, or are the services complementing one another?
Facebook the Multi-tasker
When Facebook™ started, it was available to only students and only at select universities. It expanded to include all universities and colleges, then to include high school students. Much has changed at Facebook™ in the past few years - and now anyone in the world with Internet access can join the free network.
It allows the sending of direct messages of any length to users - friends or otherwise, if individual privacy settings aren't too strict. Users can keep track of friends; play games with them; view and comment on their photos and videos; chat directly with them if they are online and view extensive profiles full of information.
One of the most recent changes to the Facebook™ world is the ability to update status within the profile and home page. The status update allows users to tell what they are doing anytime anywhere - especially with the introduction of smart phone applications - like Facebook™ for Blackberry™ and Facebook™ for iPhone™.
With technology as it is today, Facebook™ and all of its applications and programs allow users to perform virtually any social interaction they can or want to - except actual face-to-face or voice-to-voice socialization.
Tweeting the Day Away
Twitter™ is like the simplistic, easy-going cousin of the complex, multi-tasking Facebook™. Allowing its users to post 140-character snippets of information as brief status updates and not elaborate descriptions of life, Twitter™ keeps things simple.
There are "Followers" and "Followings" on Twitter™, which would be comparable to Facebook's™ "Friends," and there are direct messages that are also limited to 140 characters - which are comparable to "Messages" on Facebook™. Twitter limits the contact between people and the information shared - making it very different from the other all-encompassing social network. Twitter also has an iPhone™ application and TwitterBerry™, the Twitter™ application for Blackberry™.
So Is It Competition or Complement?
Facebook™ and Twitter™ serve two totally different functions in today's social networking world. Twitter™ has been adopted as more of a marketing tool and method of forming business relationships - either with clients, competitors or associates.
Facebook™ has grown from its original state as a tool for college students into a much larger networking site that can also benefit businesses, schools and social and professional organizations. Though the sites are performing similar functions, they are different enough that ultimately they are not in direct competition with one another, but instead complementing each others' functions on the Web.
