At the beginning of each semester, I introduce a new crop of students to this thing called Twitter. Each time, I face exasperated looks and sighs while explaining that keeping a regular Twitter account will be part of their grade. Usually, a few students in the class are already on Twitter, but I’d estimate about 85% of the class hasn’t experimented with Twitter and isn’t interested in doing so unless otherwise forced. We could have another post about whether or not “forcing” students to Tweet is a good idea. My philosophy is, if they are going into a media career of any sort, they need to understand the tools. Twitter is a tool for communicators and media professionals. Just like Facebook.
Well, Sort Of…
When introducing Twitter to students, the first issue I encounter occurs because students visualize tweets as extensions of their Facebook status updates. Why on earth do I need yet another place to tell people what I ate for lunch? They’re right. Who on earth wants to read more of that nonsense? I sure don’t. So when they make uneducated assumptions about what Twitter is, you almost can’t blame them for not being interested in learning more about it. This semester, I actually had a student ask “how to write on someone’s wall”, in regards to how to @reply to someone on Twitter.
This perceived fuzzy line between Facebook and Twitter got me thinking…how can I communicate to someone with only Facebook experience the awesomeness of the parallel universe known as the Twittersphere? (Personal note, it’s important to mention here my bias towards Twitter–but hear me out on why.)
For some time, I’ve been pondering my use of Facebook. I’m more conscious of how I use it, and consequently, how it uses me. How did Twitter win my heart over Facebook? Below, are some personal observations I have about the two websites, their influences, and why some people shy away from Twitter but flock to Facebook.
Passive and Insulated, Or Active and Enlightened?
Facebook is easy to set up. Create a profile, add a photo, and the website churns out an endless list of friend suggestions so you never feel lost. Twitter, involves a considerable amount of hunting. Sure, it can go through your e-mail contacts list, but you actually have to find discover people you want to “follow”. You have to work to get “followed”. There’s no consistent stream of casual built-in acquaintances you went to grade school with to add as “friends”. In short, when it comes to set up, Facebook is easy, Twitter is hard. In essence, it’s as if Facebook keeps us connected to people who are already in our circle. We remain insulated. We feel our digital selves are safe and protected (or not, thanks, “privacy” settings), so we’re complacent, lacking desire to step out of the box.
On the other hand, in order to truly experience Twitter, we must make active connections with people we’ve never met in person. We can cultivate these connections into meaningful relationships focused on a given niche. Which has more meaning? Having hundreds of “friends” we’ve met once or twice and haven’t seen in years, or joining new networks of like-minded individuals from across the world and being enlightened by them?
With Facebook, we gather this endless stream of social information that may or may not really impact our lives. But knowing things about our “friends” and staying in the loop is the drug that keeps us hooked. We willingly tolerate highly targeted–borderline creepy–ads so someone else can make money off of our addiction to being in this state of so-called “ambient awareness”. I ask, how useful is the information you learn on Facebook? What is the traditional content of your status feed? In a non-scientific collection, I discovered mine contains mostly updates about friends’ children, sporting events, geographic locations, weather experiences, and television shows.
My Twitter feed is organized based on my specific interests. Journalism, media literacy, St. Louis, Lindenwood, and COM130 are queries I keep tabs on via my favorite Twitter client HootSuite. In one minute of Facebook, I rarely learn anything useful. In one minute on Twitter, I’m updated, engaged and in the know about issues impacting the topics I care about.
There’s no discounting Facebook’s reach and impact on our society, but I think it’s control over us is worth some analysis. Having said this, I’m not ready to pull the plug. But, I am becoming increasingly aware of my use of it, and what is lost or gained there, versus what is lost of gained by using Twitter.
We Live In Identical Condos On The Internet
Lately, it seems I’m not the only one to question our society’s use of Facebook. Content by writer Everett Bogue and designer-thinker Johnathan Harris are two reasons I began to look at this more in depth. Not to mention, my students’ website of choice is Facebook.
In Johnathan Harris’ Bold : Cold talk at AIGA Business and Design Conference, he discusses our dependence on Facebook for our digital identity. Sites like Facebook give us a free home, or “condo”, on the Web, and we don’t have to know a lot of code to live there:
Now it has about 550 million rooms in this condominium and all of us have one. They’re all free, it’s great. It’s a great deal. But all of our rooms look the same. We’re all living in identical apartments. Yeah, we have our photos on the walls, but the spaces architecturally are the same. And I wonder what this does to us.
In another post, I would love to expand on this idea entirely. His analysis hits the mark. Is Twitter different in this regard? At this moment in Internet history, I say, yes, Twitter does provide a diverse experience and identity on the Web. It allows us to reach beyond our “free, identical condos” and interact with complete strangers on the street who share common interests. With these kinds of connections, who knows what the future holds.
Final Thoughts From Students About Twitter
Since this article began with the topic of explaining Twitter to students, it’s only appropriate to wrap up with their thoughts. I asked a few of my “Twitter all stars” how their experiences on Twitter differ from those on Facebook:
Twitter allows for a more public forum for communication. It has allowed me to take a more active role in the St. Louis community and keep up to date on what events are going on via hashtags and retweets. Thoughts and info are short, to-the-point and quick to spurt up (real-time updates). Facebook is more of a personal network, where thoughts are drawn out and closed off to the public eye. It’s nearly useless for the young professional using social media to branch out and connect with others. Facebook is like living in your house, the friend request like a doorbell to be invited to come in. Twitter is like hanging out in a public park, where random conversations can ensue and friendships/connections develop. - Chelsy McInnis
The central focus of Twitter is and always has been about connecting with new people in order to share & learn through conversation. To learn about someone on Twitter, you have to actually read what they say and reply to their tweets since very little information is held on their profile page. As a result, Twitter is much more active. To learn about someone on Facebook, you just go to their profile, scroll through their hundreds of pictures, read their basic info, their notes, likes, etc. This is much more passive. With so much information about any one person available, there is a lot of scrutiny as to what your Facebook profile says about you. Over time this has made the focus of Facebook increasingly centered around privacy and how to protect yourself from other people. - Jim Courtois
I have a Twitter account myself, and I follow sites that forward news and special interest stories so that I can get connected to the information. On my Facebook I’m only friends with people I know in real life and we talk about real life things, not sharing news stories and links to different Internet interests. Twitter has 140 character messages that don’t allow for much except the basic information, and it’s perfect for news snippets and such. Facebook is more geared towards extending your social network, playing games and creating groups with your friends online. - Lanie D.
Twitter allows me to communicate with people in my field without having to personally know them. I only ‘friend’ people I know on Facebook. I use Twitter to follow people in communications and design, whereas Facebook is more about connecting and sharing with friends. - Jessica Leitch
In conclusion, I realize Twitter may not be for everyone. After all, not everyone can handle walking around with half of their brain in another dimension. As with mediums in the past, how we choose to use these tools is up to us individually. We can fill our parallel universes with cotton candy, or we can eat our green veggies and thrive.
Nice post. I didn’t consider how easy it is to set up facebook & gain friends vs. how hard it is to set up twitter & gain followers. That is a great point. When you work to build a following, you are much more active and involved with those people because you don’t want to lose them. I just hit the humble180 follower mark and it’s been tough. BUT I actually pay attention to who follows me & what they are about. When I had Facebook, tossing another friend onto my list was basically thoughtless.