Comments on: Followers, Friends, & Fans, Twitter & Facebook Complement Each Other

By: Jason Simon

Jason Simon — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 22:52:04 +0000

@Marc Vaillancourt Here's a link to a story about tweets that lead to face to face conversations at a local coffee shop. It's called, Twitter-led coffee klatch loses its home. Sadly, the location is closing. Online conversations can definitely complement face to face and vice versa.

By: Marc Vaillancourt

Marc Vaillancourt — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 14:45:18 +0000

I think they are. The beauty of Twitter is the ability to eavesdrop on conversation. Coffee shops are the same – me might be reading or surfing, but naturally we are aware of the converstions around us. If you are focus on expanding your relationships and connecting with people – striking up a face-2-face conversation with a stranger in a coffee shop is a no brainer. Plus…. you already have a common connection – you frequent the same coffee shop – there’s a built in conversation around that topic alone! Make it a great day!

By: Jason Simon

Jason Simon — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 03:20:24 +0000

@Melinda Blau I like your metaphor, and your suggestion that Facebook is more about connecting and broadcasting while Twitter is a little of both. I agree that Facebook is more about family and friends etc., but it seems that Twitter lists makes it easier to follow / connect with specific groups of people (in a similar, but different way). It’ll be interesting to see how both technologies move forward, trying to overlap in functionality when it makes sense, and differentiate further.

By: Jason Simon

Jason Simon — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 03:12:02 +0000

I’m not sure how good Facebook is to promote businesses (pros and cons), but some people affirm their liking of specific businesses on Facebook. And of course businesses can/do promote their products and service on Facebook etc. Also, it’s interesting how some non-celebrities offline have become celebrities online etc. Nowadays, it seems easier to become a “celebrity” online. But I’m sure it’s more complicated than this.

By: Jason Simon

Jason Simon — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 03:07:43 +0000

@Marc Vaillancourt I definitely agree. Do you think that Twitter users are more inclined to strike up face to face conversations at coffee shops since they see what conversation can lead to on Twitter?

By: Marc Vaillancourt

Marc Vaillancourt — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 01:53:10 +0000

I’ve tried hard to keep FB as a gathering place for friends, high school and college classmates.

Twitter – and I like you analogy – is like a coffee shop to me. I love to be immersed in the thousands of conversations of the people I follow. Like I would in a coffee shop, if I hear/read something of interest, I may comment and engage in the conversation.

It’s been and continues to be a great adventure. Conversations leads to relationships; relationships make life interesting!

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 08:11:24 +0000

I like the definition of a recent post that Twitter is used to follow mini-celebrities and Facebook to keep in touch with people you know from high school.

I’ve been using Facebook to re-connect with long lost friends spread all over the world and Twitter to make new acquaintances locally.

I’ve seen good examples of local businesses using Twitter, but I don’t think becoming a fan in Facebook effectively promotes the business you like.

By: Melinda Blau

Melinda Blau — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 02:19:45 +0000

We each have our own metaphors. To me FB is like the watercooler in cyberspace, but instead of your office mates gathering around, it’s everyone in your entire “social convoy”–in short, all your connections. I have family, friends, and CS on FB, but on Twitter I have no family, no close friends–I follow people I don’t know and CS. It feels more like a stream filled with gold (think the miners in the Gold Rush) that I visit almost every day. I dip my strainer into the streat and see what ends up in it at that moment. It wasn’t until I gave myself permission to miss some of the nuggets that flow by that I began to appreciate Twitter. FB is more about connecting than broadcasting in my opinion, while Twitter is a little of both.