So, the Facebook hype dust has settled and what we’re left with is a solid, social networking platform. I check my feed several times a day. But since Facebook added per-feed-item preferences I’ve started to notice exactly what it is I’m interested in hearing about my friends… and it’s Twitter.
Applications are a great way to broadcast your identity and they fulfil what I think is the most underrated of Maslow’s needs - esteem. The thing is, I already know all my friends on Facebook. I’ve met them all in the real world. Applications are an entertaining distraction but they aren’t sticky. Not for me, at least. What I come back for is the status updates - the contact with my friends - the ambient intimacy. I think applications were key to Facebook’s adoption - a soft, understandable way to get people interested - but it’s presence that’s of lasting interest. If anything, the applications have become a noisy albatross, distracting from the core signal.
Facebook’s genius was wrapping the new behaviour of broadcasting status in a consumable package. Presence, identity and ‘is’. It all fits perfectly. I’m glad that Facebook have finally removed the compulsory ‘is’ from their status input but I think that, initially, that little word provided a vital hint to the function of the box. Without it I’m not sure as many people would have grasped the concept. And that’s the problem Twitter has come up against: understanding.
From the very beginning I’ve had trouble explaining why I use Twitter. I love the sense of community and the constant stream of society that I get from it but I could never get that across to anyone. Why would I want to broadcast what I’m doing? Well, because my friends do. I like hearing from them so I’m reciprocating. These days I describe it as “Facebook status updates but without the applications crap”.
That description does Twitter a terrible disservice but it’s the simplest analogy I can find. What’s interesting though is that the functionality I derive from Twitter, despite its simplicity, actually covers off both Facebook status updates and wall posts (public but directed comments, via the @username convention) with one input field. It’s everything I’m interested in with none of the crap.
And its openness is a massive benefit where Facebook’s walled garden is going to become more and more of a hindrance. I log in to Facebook a few times a day to check my feed; I have Adium open receiving Twitter updates constantly. Twitter wins - it’s got more of my attention.
Twitter FTW!
