Social Media: Is Facebook Better Than Twitter?

I have been on social media for almost 10 years now. Though I would hardly consider myself an expert, I have been involved long enough to see it change and take shape into what we know and use today.

Xanga was great for writing long posts and was my first introduction into true blogging. Myspace came  next and was only really good for having friends and finding new music. Then Facebook showed up and at first it was only a place to share pictures, and to be honest I was not super impressed.

Then there was Twitter, and Twitter changed everything. The introduction of 140 words or less that could be immediately posted and read by followers via phone notifications was amazing. I remember having full conversations on Twitter when notifications were sent to my phone. This was the best thing ever.

Then Facebook changed their whole "wall" format to essentially interact the same way, and Twitter soon became a thing of the past. I remember thinking, "why be on twitter when I can have everything on Facebook?" At that is the way it has remained for a couple of years now.

I have recently started using Twitter and I am beginning to see it's usefulness again. I can follow people/ news organizations/ tv show I admire. I can easily stay updated on national and world news as well as hear about the latest events going on in my area. Twitter serves a purpose in my life yet again.

Ultimately, I would say about Facebook and Twitter both are equally useful and both serve a different purpose. One I can hear about the personal lives of my friends and family, the other I can stay up-to-date about other global cultural happenings.

When it comes to the integrity of journalism, though, I believe Twitter would win. Facebook relies more on word of mouth whereas journalists are using Twitter to post about news in a more formal way.

Social Media has really come a long way, and I believe it has a long way to go still. People now are taking advantage of the many different outlets afforded them and are turning them into what they need them to be. I'll be interested to see how far we go in the next 10 years.