Facebook is much more than a social network. Twitter is much more than an information network or serendipity engine. Each represent a dashboard for your attention, a foundation for conversations and collaboration, and a matrix for your social graph and contextual relationships. In other words, Facebook and Twitter essentially represent the entrée to the future of the social Web as each strive to host, what Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, and others, refer to as our personal social operating system (OS).
What Windows is to PCs and OS X is to Macs, Facebook and Twitter are to our social architecture and enterprise. Certainly there’s a David and Goliath element here depending on which company you immediately view as Microsoft or Apple. However, Mac and Windows are simply operating systems, not networks per se, and that’s where the metaphor of an OS breaks down. Either way, there is the perception that there is a competition between Facebook and Twitter for your attention and your network.
Why? At the very least, Twitter and Facebook combine the elements of productivity and interactivity, combining a social OS, a global network, and a platform for open development.
The fabric of our online activity stems from a sophisticated social framework that facilitates the exchange of information and sustains professional, conversational, and contextual connections. Facebook and Twitter, like Windows and Mac, allow us to interact cross platform, while hosting dedicated applications that support our engagement, productivity, and communication.
As much attention as we pay to this mythical clash between Facebook and Twitter, the truth is that it’s not unprecedented to maintain identities in more than one ecosystem. For example, I use both Mac and Windows-based systems, I use both Facebook and Twitter. Yet according to new data from Hitwise, it appears that the epic battle between the two perceived leaders in Social Media is one-sided—or perhaps better stated, dominated.
As of October 2009, Facebook accounts for 6 percent of all U.S. Internet visits while Twitter represents only 0.14 percent. In fact, visits to Twitter.com peaked at .20 percent between June and July 2009 and has slowly lost attention in the interim, a point TechCrunch has noted as well. At the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco recently, co-founder Evan Williams acknowledged the slowdown in traffic to Twitter.com in the U.S., for now, but he also stated that they are in the process of finalizing new features that will reverse the downward trend. Williams also reminded us Twitter continues to recognize growth in both mobile and abroad.
And, for those who take solace in the hope that traffic is migrating from Twitter.com to mobile clients, there is some truth to the theory. However, new visitors count for everything and Twitter needs to do a better job capturing new users and holding their interests after they register. The company needs to look further than its resident celebrities to attract and sustain traffic.
For the time being, regardless of numbers, Facebook and Twitter serve a purpose, and thus, remain the Mac and PC in the lives of many. And, until the day that I am forced or compelled to pledge allegiance to one or the other, I will continue to cultivate relationships across multiple landscapes and suggest that you do the same.
But which one’s the Mac and which one’s the PC?
Facebook’s new home page SUCKS.
Twitter is Too naive.
I prefer Orkut.. as it sucks LITTLE less than Others
Lets not frickin’ forget that Mark Zuckerberg (the way he speaks) tries to imitate Steve Jobs.
http://valleywa...pers-conference
Lets not frickin’ forget that Apple did a business profile on Twitter. Everyone at Twitter HQ uses a Mac.
http://www.appl...ofiles/twitter/
Mac is Amazon, Oracle, and Facebook.
http://www.fast...-of-amazon.html
http://www.sfga...MNGS649LVB1.DTL (Plus, Ellison said some nasty things about Microsoft)
PC is eBay, IBM, and MySpace.
twitter = mac
facebook = pc
BINGO!
Completely agree
you both posted from facebook. nice touch.
Touché
Makes sense that it would be a Mac: a relatively small market share constituted by a smug user base who cannot point to a unique, tangible benefit that arises from their platform choice.
What’s more? In my experience the users of both fall into the same demographic of black-rimmed glasses having, flannel-and-skinny-jeans wearing posers!
Twitter is PC — way more hacked, than FB.
Isn’t FB in the midst of a mad phishing scandal that it can’t control?… I’ve only been on Twitter for 3 weeks and the authentic connections — brand-new friends, colleagues, community, support, MASSIVE information — are mind-melting. And to think how I used to make fun of the stereotypical mundanities… “eating breakfast,” etc. I still do, but I’m also stunned by the endless possibilities of 140-character soundbites and links. Beyond PC & Mac, I say. Brave new world. Information overload, and yet…
hmm…couldn’t see that!
Twitter = Apples
Facebook = Oranges
Exactly! Twitter and Facebook aren’t competing systems but rather complementary tools
You should probably let them both know this.
Twitter = MAC – specific applications
Facebook : PC – too many applications, too general
Great article. But really, you can’t just look at twitter traffic only and be determining the comparison. Rather look at ALL the supporting sites of twitter, e.g. tweetmeme and see where that is heading.
And not to mention using Twitter via a 3rd-party, not-counted-by-stats, application is common place.
Exactly. As of this posting twitter.com only accounts for 21% of the service’s usage: http://www.twit...lientusers.html
Even taking that into account, twitter only accounts for 0.7%. Still way off the mark.
facebook keeps you connected with people you already know.
twitter (especially now with lists) helps you discover people that you never knew.
my tweets go out to everyone in the whole world while my facebook status updates stay within my circles of friends.
as Steve Jobs said about Apple and Microsoft in 1997 – its not about Apple v Microsoft anymore.
And it has been and never will be twitter v facebook.
See in addition this blog post by Danah Boyd+ comments on the subject – “Some thoughts on Twitter vs. Facebook Status Updates”
http://www.zeph...oughts_o_2.html .
Neither. Facebook is the borg, however (although we volunteer for assimilation).
Facebook’s multi-dimensional user interface is reminiscent of Mac, but it feels like their user centered focus/structure is slipping away, while Twitter is, ever so slowly, gaining user intuitiveness sophistication.
And, for the record, in the most recent batch of Mac vs PC commercials, the one that shows the reverse historical perspective of Bill Gates in the 80’s trying to be cool – - got it wrong. Bill was never cool. He always knew himself, and was true to his uber geekness.
I had made that comparison months ago, http://3.ly/Mni, and am so ready to move onto something more dynamic
I would have to say that facebook is PC and twitter is mac. Twitter is very current and constantly updated, and facebook copies all of twitter’s good ideas.
Plus of course Facebook was there first, is used by an exponentially large number of people and won’t die an ignominious death when the novelty wears off.
Yeah, I’d go along with this, except that I’m willing to bet 90% of facebook “hits” are created by 10% of their members who are slack jawed mafia bosses planting gardens and sending flair to their cubemates.
Facebook is just an overblown social gaming network that annoys the 90% of the world who don’t play that way.
Well stated.
And I have to add that I’m logged into *both* twitter and facebook (concurrently) and the reply (here) defaulted to the facebook login. That’s big.
Isnt 10% of twitter users generated like 80% of the traffic? Now that’s lot of noise. Facebook’s network of friends/photos/fanpage/etc make strong retention. Twitter is easily replicated and will soon die if no innovation surfaced.
it is really impossible to compare the two as mac or pc since they are in different spaces.
Facebook is a Mac because they want to own and control you, just like Steve Jobs.
Twitter is like a PC because YOU are in control.
there is something new coming out that will blow twitter out and take some spot light time from fbook
Ooh! Is it one of the dozens of clone sites spammed in the comments here over the last 2 years?
perhaps. perhaps someone has figured out what people want
…facebook?
correction: its already out
Twitter is Mac; Facebook is PC.
Just look at the the parallels between uptake and mainstream market penetration of each of them.
Mac has been known to be used by the more creative, cutting edge type peeps and fewer people use Macs. Personally, I also use both PCs and Macs, Facebook and Twitter for different reasons.
It took me some years before I bought my first Mac. Similarly, I was on Facebook for quite a while before I got into Twitter. I’m now spending a lot more time on Macs and Twitter. There seem to be a heck of a lot of techie and creative types all over the world on Twitter and tweets (once you find the right people to follow) seem to be more cutting edge, current, thoughtful and generally less self-indulgent than FB updates.
Both will destroy your life equally well. Just because you can share every drunken thought does not mean it is a really good idea.
really? which is a mac and which is a pc? are we 4 years old now? can we please get on with reporting news? when will you columnists grow up and quit feeding the trolls?
Thank you! It’s sad that one needs to read down through half of the comments in order to find someone with some sanity.
Which “social os” is a the pc and which is the Mac? Are you kidding me! Ralphie’s thesis on why he wanted a Red Rider BB g
Twitter=mac
Facebook =pc
no wonder I love twitter shazam
yep…i love mac!
I find it interesting the market share ratio of facebook to twitter is 6.10/0.14 = 43.5 while the funding levels though only have a ratio of 716/155 = 4.6
Facebook is PC, twitter is Linux. There’s no Mac.
meh, unless “PC” can include gnu/linux, i would say that twitter is open source, as most of the interesting stuff happens outside of twitter proper, using twitter as the base/lib.
facebook have photos and videos internally, twitter do not, but have multiple external sources that people can use via their twitter account credentials, for instance. And the web, phone and desktop clients build on top of this.
On-site page views are not a good way to measure the success of Twitter. Most people use applications to reach that service. I would like to see a graph of the number of API calls being made to twitter via TwitterFon, Tweeterly, Brizzly, etc.
fb is a marriage and twitter is a bunch of one nighters…thats how i compartmentalize in my feeble mind
Facebook and Twitter are both Mac .
PC is Listserv.
I will find it interesting when Facebook opens status updates to the world – how this will affect Twitter. Most people crap on about the “relation ecosystem” being different between twitter and facebook. “Facebook have a closed ecosystem while twitter having an open one”.
In my mind, this is the “only difference” separating the two services and it seems that facebook is ever merging to become more open to status updates. The reality is that Facebook is mainstream beyond belief whereas Twitter seems this company that is just obsessed about in the media beyond belief – yet as the above traffic shows, actually accounts for very little in comparison to Facebook.
I personally think that if Facebook opens status updates – it will change this dynamic relationship. You will have “open friends” and “closed friends” and this will essentially be a merging of Twitter/Facebook that will provide a serious ground of resistance for people being bothered moving to Twitter. It was no different when Myspace started to die and Facebook took over.
Mainstream really cant be bothered having 10 different web social streams that they monitor. Facebook already has most peoples existing relationships on it – and so if they open the service up people will be happy with this. Twitter has brand power but I just cant see it beating facebook in this space. You talk about the realtime stream being integrated to Google/Bing – imagine if Facebook opened their Status updates. 300 Million people in realtime – thats something that Twitter will never have because why update twitter when you have facebook?
This is real problem I see with Twitters growth. IMHO
Because Twitter is less complicated and lot easier to post those quick short status updates on.
I actually think Facebook would be losing what makes them different by opening up. I find two separate uses for Facebook and Twitter.
I want to use Facebook for my “closed off / more private” content that’s meant for my family & friends.
Something that’s really interesting is the difference in attitudes between the companies. Twitter is letting its users and developers define the service, while Facebook keeps trying to tell its users what it wants and how it should work.
How do you figure it’s easier to post updates, they both have the same input box you type into and a share button.
if it was myspace vs facebook the answer was obvious. As for twitter, I’m not totaly convinced what is it good for, more for output than input I think. But, Facebook is very very storng where ever I go I see people using it, its amazing. So I think facbook may be both PC for the size and Mac for the cool.
I don’t think the Mac/PC metaphor adds a thing, but hitwise data is inherently going to miss Twitter API usage.
I access Twitter via Seimic, Tweetdeck, Echelon (iPhone) and SMS. I could also access Facebook through these channels, but I generally visit facebook via the browser.
Facebook wants to control the web through their social graph. Microsoft wanted to control the software industry through their OS.
Twitter established their foothold via message publishing. Apple established their foothold via document publishing.
Interesting Scott. So true!
Bad link on “Social Operating System”
This comparison is stupid: facebook and twitter are both completely free to use and (relatively) easy to adopt — Mac and PC require hardware and the OS AND then a huge investment in further software AND it used to be that much of what you did on one was neither compatible, nor viewable by the other.
With Twitter and Facebook, there is no such problem.
As it is, it seems like Facebook is providing the service that more people want (especially when we acknowledge that both services are completely free and thus, there isn’t exactly a barrier to entry).
As for the Mac vs PC on usability grounds? Which site necessitates the use of unfamiliar jargon to communicate efficiently, outside linking services to shorten links, outside services to post images and somewhat artificial limits based on cell-phone technology to the length of posts?
Arguably, one could say that Facebook has feature-glut, game-glut, ad-glut. All fair, too.
Which is why, on some level, I think this whole comparison is kind of stupid anyway: these services in no way resemble the mac vs pc wars except that they both are a part of a similar category of services — something you could say about any set of competitors.
It sounds like people want to say that, because Twitter has fewer users (but that the people who use it like it a lot better than Facebook), that it should be “Mac” in this faux comparison. Meh.
Downturn in traffic doesn’t say anything about people using apps to access Twitter. I used to go to Twitter.com but now I use Tweetie and UberTwitter on my Blackberry.
I’ve noticed that very few bit.ly clicks come from Twitter itself about 80% occur through apps. Traffic doesn’t tell the whole story…
Twitter = Mac all the way
Facebook = Fat & bloated PC
Visiting statistics often can be misleading about site’s popularity.
Twitter allow users to do a lot with out visiting the site
i think fb and twitter are both mac.
myspace is the pc of social networking
MySpace is the Windows 3.1 of social networking.
Hahah. So True.
Twitter = mac
Facebook = pc
Facebook has a host of features and personalization settings.
Twitter is a dumbed down version of Facebook.
Not so. Twitter has a whole different purpose for me – not friends, but … 1. info sources (with links), including media and blogs from the US and other countries. All instant, fast, easy to scan to decide what to look into … 2. Entertainment sources. Local but also in arts centers … 3. Following a fascinating, sometimes lovable variety of voices / personalities / perspectives / comedians around the world. … 4. French Twitters to keep up with that language. The brevity helps, and the informal, everyday speech is great. … 5. Ability to send messages, RTs, encouragements and appreciation, with no fuss.
I do not sign out of Twitter on my MAC so I can access and use without bother.
And it’s all fast.
Using low-contrast colors as the sole means of communicating essential information in the first chart? *HitStupid*
This comparison is too flawed. Your comparing Twitter.com vs Facebook.com. Twitter is primary access via third party clients unlike facebook. Secondly, your just limiting it to the US. And facebook vs twitter is not synonymous to Mac vs PC at all.
Bingo.
I also agree with the author that “I will continue to cultivate relationships across multiple landscapes.”
I use Twitter only because it’s fast and easy to set up a variety of voices to follow all over the world plus great info and entertainment sources. Facebook takes too much time. Speed!
I am retired and people my age are pouring into Facebook while telling me that Twitter is “too technical.” Good. I just want to follow new voices. For people I know there’s the phone or no communication because the mutual thing is just too weak.
Twitter is SO mac and facebook is PC. Why? Twitter is simple, it is what you see. There’s no complicated back end, much in the way a mac is simple and uncomplicated.
Facebook is a nightmare of different types of notifications, and an overloaded UI with so many things vying for your attention. Very PC.
Facebook is also sort of that mandatory thing that 99% of people now use, that won’t be going away any time soon. Twitter, in contrast, is sort of new and edgier (by most peoples’ standards.)
who crashes more often?
Agreed.
Oops! The irony, made a typo in my Twitter iD!
facebook=friends
twitter=whores
Facebook = Commodore C64
Twitter = Amiga 500 with extension RAM
;
Hard to compare both platforms but currently Facebook is the more commercialized thing I guess. Anyway both will get (are?) mainstream and then no more that interesting. Anyway my imagination of the Amiga is quite good but PC survived.
Facebook is a Mac because they want to own and control you, just like Steve Jobs.
Twitter is like a PC because YOU are in control.
i love smirnoff better than finlandia, go figure
What dumb-ar*se article. Neither FB or TW is Mac or PC. I’m a Mac and think FB is a far superior solution to TW. TW is white noise. A cheap, clunky piece of cr*p that has somehow captured the zeitgeist. But so did Kajagoogoo. But is FB a Mac? Hell, no. FB is bloatware. It just offers more than TW. They’re both rubbish, but we’ve (the media) adopted them. Quite depressing when you see some of the amazing web technology out there.
Facebook users are producing a lot more content than Twitter users (in average).
Question is what is being used the most and for what reasons…
Facebook is most certainly PC. Sorry to say, it is a dull service lacking in compelling features. (There are other poorly promoted sites out there that allow instant networked gameplay and a far more graphically intense experience.)
Most importantly, FB is partially owned by MS and has that same utilitarian feel as an MS product.
It is only successful due to the current (nasty& dangerous) culture of celebrity and reality TV, that sadly inspires people to want to be seen and loved by those they don’t even know or have more friends than their peers. There are simpler ways to remain in touch, so the the original value proposition for FB is no longer relevant.
This is NOT to say FB doesn’t work, it just isn’t compelling. IMHO!
Twitter is a bit of quick fun and presented in a more creative manner, but has long term potential with some smart choices by it’s leadership and user input. = Mac.
Brian, I’m looking for a clarification.
Much of the ‘data’ used to support the argument of FB’s dominance is related to website statistics. But that’s only because to really use FB you have to go to FB’s home page. While a significant part of Twitter’s user base uses desktop apps like TweetDeck and Seesmic to manage their Twitter presence…and many (well at least me), keep their app open for a very long duration. So what I’m wondering is whether those effects are properly taken into account with the Hitwise stats. If not, than I think the argument about increasing or declining usage may be incomplete at best.
the worst article ever readd…..
I don’t think it really matters, unless it refers to an up and coming, cool fad. They are completely different in many ways. twitter is very one dimensional
I think Facebook is like a Mac. It feels like someone put a ring in my nose and is leading me around (probably to be slaughtered by advertisers).
Twitter is like a PC. They are both like an open pasture… infinite with possibilities… little restrictions.
The metaphor does not fly. Facebook and Twitter meet different needs. But if it is about size, Facebook seems to be the PC, bigger.