5 Ways Twitter Can Crush The Facebook Empire
Could we witness a retelling of David versus Goliath with an epic battle between the two largest social networking networking competitors? You have Facebook, which continually grows amidst its privacy woes. Then you have Twitter, which faces scalability issues with increasing usage. As big as they both are, Twitter is tiny compared to Facebook’s massive user base, but maybe not for long.
These two services were, at a time, very different from each other. They both had separate methods to their madness: one focusing on a tight-knit network of close friends and the other offering massive community with plenty of networking opportunities. But now they grow more alike with each passing day. Facebook is constantly urging its users to share more personal information as the site opens itself up to the world, a move which has been met with some dismay. Twitter keeps adding functionality that makes the sites more powerful yet more complex.
Who knows what these services will look like a few years from now?
But the one thing that keeps these services separated from each other at present is the statistics. Facebook’s estimated 500 million users, which is equivalent to the combined populations of the United States and Brazil, are core to one of the most prominent social networks in existence. Facebook has also become a household name around the world.
Yet Twitter’s 125 million users, while not as impressive as a figure as Facebook’s, has enabled all of its users to be connected with each other either directly or indirectly. Furthermore, Twitter offers developers, advertisers, marketers, and users a goldmine of data that is open to the world. And its growth is promising.
So will Twitter be able to keep up with Facebook’s growth and, perhaps, surpass it? A few things might allow that to happen.
1. Openness
One of the biggest ways that Twitter differentiates itself from Facebook is with openness. Facebook is a closed system that locks people to its platform in numerous ways. Twitter, on the other hand, thrives on its open platform, which invites third-parties and users to share their data with everyone. Facebook’s closed-down tendencies with regards to the exporting and sharing of information could ultimately give Twitter’s users and developers the edge — it’s just a matter of what users and developers will prefer in the grand scheme of things.
2. Privacy Blunders
Privacy is always a hot topic, and it is one of the biggest problems that Facebook faces. Twitter was established as a public service — you join Twitter knowing that everyone is going to see what you write. With Facebook, that isn’t necessarily true, and that causes conflict, especially as Facebook continues to shift away from the privacy wall that it once provided. Facebook has already had several privacy blunders, but there is still much more room for error, where Twitter has far less to worry about.
3. Hollywood
Celebrities tend to be leaders, with thousands — if not millions — following in their footsteps. From superstar athletes to A-list actors, Twitter is loaded with this celebrity appeal. This is a very good thing for Twitter. While Facebook allows people to “Like” celebrities, managing these interactions is quite difficult and unintuitive. Twitter presents these interactions in a simpler manner, which allows for better interaction. So as Hollywood continues to establish its presence on social media, Twitter will continue to benefit.
4. Third-Party Support
Facebook and Twitter are stacked nicely in the third-party support department, but Twitter has the edge in experience. Whereas developers typically create platform-specific applications for Facebook, developers for Twitter are much more free in this regard. The freedom that Twitter provides could prove more appealing to developers. You could liken this to the iPhone (which is simple and closed) versus Android (which is chaotic and complex). That said, Twitter needs to stop stepping on its third-parties’ turf.
5. Simplicity
And one of the last things Twitter can do to steal the throne away from Facebook is to remain simple. Facebook has become a complex experience, with complicated privacy controls, hundreds of thousands of applications, dozens of buttons on its homepage, and information overload. With Twitter, you have a timeline with information from people you follow — that is all there is to it. If Facebook can present users with a simple option, while Facebook becomes far more complex to manage, it could bring in some converts.
GREAT article. Please everyone — show this to the next Social Media “expert” who doesn’t have a Twitter handle (I’ve met several recently). The more we all play in each environment and understand their inherent differences, the more we can push each platform to be what we want it to be.
Discussions like this will help Facebook to see where the value of openness is and how they fit into that realm. I totally agree on the complexity path — the more they try to build an intricate system, the more Twitter will be the most attractive platform for conversation.
There one BIG item that seems to be missing from your list: Social Games.
My impression is that what a lot of people do on Facebook is play Social Games. (Not everyone of course. And it’s not the only thing they do on there. But it is a part of the current attraction of Facebook.)
I think that Twitter could do things to make Social Games less annoying. For example, perhaps dividing up a person’s tweet stream into “channels”, so that people could more easily ignore game related tweets if they aren’t interested. Or, perhaps removing the 20 list limit, so people could create a list of “fellow players” for each game.
it looks like, not only does Twitter needs to fight to keep his current position, but an article published today on CNN says that Facebook has now officially 500 million users, with a incredible growth of more than double it’s size only 15 months ago (twitter is only 75 million, just a bit behind Linkedin at 82million, and not even close to the now “dying”, myspace with 200 million).
Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook CEO) stated last week that they have a plan to double 500 million in under 1 year, thanks to new improvements on an innovative advertising concept, that has Google worried. And will most likely set the difference between both platforms further than they have ever been before.
I do agree with most readers here, there is a place for both, Twitter and Facebook, because they are so different and target such different demographics.
Interesting article, but I dont think I agree. People want the functionality of Facebook, twitter just doesnt offer that. I reckon they will both stay, they’re different enough to not compete too directly.
Also, the last sentence, dont you mean “If Twitter can present users…”
I don’t know if Twitter can take over FaceBook. Only friends and family see my FB, and on Twitter anyone is welcome to follow me. On twitter I feel like I am everyone’s friend, on facebook only in the flesh friends are welcome. A lot of people are the same way, they use FB to keep up with fam. Like my friend says “Facebook is my GF, and Twitter is my sidechick”.