Twitter Vs Facebook: What's the difference?

As heard in our lecture, "Ain't nobody got time for that" (Van Luyn,  2013), that's how I felt about tweets pouring into my Twitter newsfeed. Who really cares about the paternity of some reality star's baby? Millions of people apparently, according to Twitter.

I was confused, why was I was so curious as to why this world exists? I understood more clearly, once I heard our lecturer explain, " The idea of using the scientific method by observing things, by measuring things we can come to some greater knowledge about how the world is" (Van Luyn, 2013).

The Twitter persona I created is someone who enjoys conversations about frivolous details, of the rich and famous. I've tried to understand why young people across the globe are turning to this social networking hub and to their hidden identities. It seems to be a form of escapism, for instance how some of us turn to television, books or video games. 

You can construct and create your own life narrative, via Twitter.  If Facebook is like an autobiography, a timeline of your life, than Twitter is a place to escape and become whoever you want to be. This differs to Facebook, Walther et al. suggests users are "at the mercy of their social networks" (McNeill, 2012, p. 108). 

"You have one identity" (McNeill, 2012, p. 104), the Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg confirms about Facebook. Perhaps teen users want to escape their boring middle class lives. They can't afford the luxury items that their idols parade on Twitter, they must feel they are peeking into another world. It's a place they can connect to, with other like-minded fans. 

Many young Twitter users may not feel they have Faceook timeline stories worth sharing, as Zuckerberg describes Facebook timeline as, "the ability to highlight and curate all your stories so that you can express who you really are" (McNeill, 2012, p. 107). Twitter has the ability to be the opposite of Facebook in this regard. The world doesn't have to know they're a lonely teen who is bullied at school, or that their parents are divorced and have lost their jobs in the recession. They can create an alternate reality. Unlike Facebook, they can hide behind their Twitter identity and they're in charge of the image they present to the world. Whereas Zuckerberg establishes that Facebook, "is the story of your life" (McNeill, 2012, p. 107). 

To get a sense of the Twitter celebrity community, here is a link to a popular, fan run, page for Justin Bieber; https://twitter.com/JustinBiebeFans

Reference List

Van Luyn, A. (2013). BA1002: Our Space: Networks, narratives and the making of place, Lecture 3: Networked Narratives. Retrieved from http://learnjcu.edu.au

McNeill, L. (2012). There is no "I" in network: Social networking sites and post human auto-biography. In Biography, 104-108.

Image Credits

Illustration by Nick Biton/The New York Times