If the media is to be trusted, and I'm beginning to suspect it is not, Twitter and its founders are the next second coming of Christ. I read about Twitter every day: it is growing five times faster than, Facebook, Oprah is now tweeting, and Steve Colbert has officially coined the term "twatter". Even Maureen Dowd of NYT columnist fame seems enamored with the Twitter founders if not the actual tweeting herself. I would guess that at this stage, Twitter still needs her support more than she needs theirs. The NYT has also reported on people "ghost tweeting", which is when a celebrity pays someone to Tweet for them. If anyone needs a ghost Tweeter, let me know. I can do it: see, "Sunny skies here." (Of course, my own personal tweets run along the lines of: "Still Facebooking."
WIth all the hoopla surrounding Twitter, I decided to "tweet" myself and see what would happen: how many followers would I get and who could I follow? The results, I'm afraid, either reflect a huge lack of interest in my own personal tweeting ability (I now have four followers) or the fact that none of my Facebook friends tweet. I have three friends following me and one mystery follower, and only have two friends to follow myself.
To investigate further, because that is the kind of intrepid person I am, I looked into the demographics of Twitter v. Facebook. The Big Showdown at the OK Coral it is not, but rather the New Battle for Web 2.0 users is on. Who is tweeting and who is Facebooking? I know you are dying to know.
According to http://www.quantcast.com/twitter.com, the Twitter data breaks down like this: 55% of Tweeters are female, with the remainder being men. 80% of Tweeters are Caucasian. On Facebook, the numbers are strangely similar: 54% of Facebook users are female and 76% of them are Caucasian.
Looking at a side by side comparison of the two sites demonstrates the fact that although Facebook is not growing at such a fast rate as Twitter, it has four times as many users and is still growing, which is what I suspected all along. Without giving specific names or numbers, I can say that I have a significant difference in the amount of my Facebook friends v. my Twitter followers. Another thing that puzzles me is the fact that I am able to update my status on Facebook whenever I want, making Twittering or Tweeting or whatever you want to call it a tad redundant.
WIth all the hoopla surrounding Twitter, I decided to "tweet" myself and see what would happen: how many followers would I get and who could I follow? The results, I'm afraid, either reflect a huge lack of interest in my own personal tweeting ability (I now have four followers) or the fact that none of my Facebook friends tweet. I have three friends following me and one mystery follower, and only have two friends to follow myself.
To investigate further, because that is the kind of intrepid person I am, I looked into the demographics of Twitter v. Facebook. The Big Showdown at the OK Coral it is not, but rather the New Battle for Web 2.0 users is on. Who is tweeting and who is Facebooking? I know you are dying to know.
According to http://www.quantcast.com/twitter.com, the Twitter data breaks down like this: 55% of Tweeters are female, with the remainder being men. 80% of Tweeters are Caucasian. On Facebook, the numbers are strangely similar: 54% of Facebook users are female and 76% of them are Caucasian.
Looking at a side by side comparison of the two sites demonstrates the fact that although Facebook is not growing at such a fast rate as Twitter, it has four times as many users and is still growing, which is what I suspected all along. Without giving specific names or numbers, I can say that I have a significant difference in the amount of my Facebook friends v. my Twitter followers. Another thing that puzzles me is the fact that I am able to update my status on Facebook whenever I want, making Twittering or Tweeting or whatever you want to call it a tad redundant.