On Twitter vs. Facebook status updates

[charmian]

Interesting essay on twitter vs. facebook status updates

Basically, it's about how the ways that Facebook and Twitter are set up that create different social norms. On FB, friending is a reciprocal practice, whereas on Twitter it isn't, and on Twitter, you can't reply on someone else's "page," while you can direct a message at them from your own. Twitter, she theorizes, is more about "micro-celebrity" and speaking in public. Therefore, people looking for various things will gravitate to one service or another to do something which seems superficially similar.

Something she doesn't mention though, is that on Twitter if you don't like the fact that someone is following you, you can boot them. This may alter things a bit.

I suppose LJ is more like Twitter than Facebook, but judging from how many people come into suggestions asking for the ability to boot unwanted friends-of, and the whole serial adder thing, a lot of people would like it to be more like Facebook in that respect. I would say that in some ways Dreamwidth goes even further in this direction by separating out the subscribing and access functions, and getting rid of the word "friend." (Tumblr and Posterous are also more Twitter-like in their social graphs.) I wonder if there isn't an unrealized niche out there for a more FB-like blogging service? Private blogging? Or maybe one day FB will come out with a blogging feature which doesn't suck.

Comments

[treesahquiche]

Private blogging would be cool, but Facebook already has its Notes app, and so many people are on Facebook that I can't imagine that any private blogging site would be very oft used or popular. If there is indeed a niche for private blogging, then Facebook's team of market researchers and developers will probably find out about it eventually and improve its Notes app.

However, most of my Facebook friends -- who are very prolific Note-makers -- prefer the simplicity and barebones feel of Facebook Notes. I've tried persuading them into getting a blog on DW, LJ, Wordpress, Blogger, etc., but they haven't really taken to the idea, saying that it's too much work and doesn't have the interactive and personal feel of Facebook, where Notes build on comments made on status messages, links, and the fact that you know your Facebook friends in real life (generally) and have a history full of shared experiences and inside jokes.

[charmian]

Yeah, I don't really like using the notes app because it doesn't show in a blog format, really. Also, my facebook friends never commented on my notes, so I stopped writing them.

Huh, I don't know... FB has made a lot of boneheaded moves so I'm not sure if them not doing something means that there isn't a market for it.

That is interesting! I don't have much info about people who prefer to use Notes and FB over blogging platforms. Although in the old days, I'm told that a lot of people used LJ in those ways (to talk about IRL stuff to their RL friends... that was IIRC supposed to be the original purpose of the software)

[petronia]

I import Tumblr as Notes, now, and I have to say I get many times more feedback on FB as on Tumblr itself. (And in both cases what gets most feedback isn't long blog entries.)

[charmian]

More people reading on FB too, right? I like using Tumblr, but there is a lack of feedback there. At this point I'm more using it as an archive.

[niqaeli]

I've always wondered if Twitter doesn't have problems where people with a public twitter block someone they don't want reading them and then are surprised when that person can and does continue to do so.

Because you blocked them from showing up in your followers and you don't show up in their feed, but public twitter is public. You just go to their actual twitter page. Sure, it's kind of annoying, but if you're looking to harass someone you might well do it.

(Actually, of course, this is why Dreamwidth and LiveJournal both refuse to provide a 'site-only' security level. It's the illusion of security, backed by no actual security.)

[petronia]

I think the issue isn't actually security - more "get out of my face and I don't have to be reminded of your existence". XD; I.e. they can read you but they can't tweet @ you (correct me if I'm wrong), and one of the interesting things about Twitter is that tweet-at and retweet are the same syntax, so they can't quote you either.

I think there's very little in "Twitter culture" of that illusion you see in LJ-land, whereby "my journal is public but it's only meant for a few people to see".

[charmian]

I think there's very little in "Twitter culture" of that illusion you see in LJ-land, whereby "my journal is public but it's only meant for a few people to see".

Why is that, and how can they bottle it and send it to LJ-land? XD

[niqaeli]

Oh god, yes please. >_>;

[charmian]

Maybe because there's search people are disabused of the illusion? What I think it is, is less about the person being able to read it (if they wanted that, they'd lock their Twitter) but about the person being able to display a public link to them. In other words, it's the same reason people on LJ with friends-only journals get upset about serial-adders. It's not that they object to the serial adder being able to read them, because they know perfectly well the adder can't. What they object to is appearing on the serial adders userinfo.

[niqaeli]

Heh. If they're culturally this sane, man, like you said: can the bottle it and ship it to LJ-land?

(I admit, I do block spammers on Twitter. Mostly I just don't want to have them showing up on *my* profile since that is, after all, my space and I expect to control it fairly well. Wouldn't really care if they could link to me, though.)

[charmian]

Yeah, I don't extensively use Twitter, but I sure do get a lot of those damned spammers. I made some of them unfollow me, and since my main twitter is now private, it's not like that causes them to miss out on anything anyhow.

[foxfirefey]

I kind of think Multiply is aimed at that niche, I found it during research during the launch of Vox, I think.

[charmian]

Interesting. This site has grown a LOT over the past year.