This was going to be a lengthy post about how it’s better to build simple systems with minimal rules so the optimal feature set emerges organically (aka: paving the cowpaths). Instead I’ll just mention Muxtape and del.icio.us so you can draw your own conclusions.
Anyway, the real reason Twitter is 100000X better than Facebook is that:
Facebook is work. Twitter is play.
- After the friend-adding honeymoon frenzy, Facebook gets boring fast. It becomes yet another inbox. Even worse, it’s like a noisy corporate Outlook inbox full of insipid HR newsletters and “CC: EVERYONE” abuse.
- Twitter however, is like an awesome never ending cocktail party. Even better, it’s a party full of people you love because they’re smart, helpful, hilarious, or famous. My brain knows that Hugh MacLeod and Jonathan Coulton don’t know me from Adam, but look! They’re right next to my real life friends so I’m popular by proximity!
- At cocktail parties you’re there to meet new people, not build a wall around your existing clique. I’ve met some fantastic people on Twitter, some of whom are now business contacts and clients.1 Facebook was founded by an introverted seeming college student2 and I suspect that has a lot to do with its rigid, inward facing rules.
- If someone at a cocktail party is being a bore, you can excuse yourself, or “unfollow” them, without a fuss. With Twitter everyone understands that attention is limited and conversation is ephemeral. With Facebook’s cliquey assumptions however, it’s an insult to “unfriend” or “block” someone, even if you love them but not their “zombie schoolgirl bite” updates. So they stay on your friends list, and you end up resenting them. This may be why social network users are so fickle. Eventually noise drowns out signal and it’s easier to start over elsewhere than risk upsetting people.3
To sum up: Facebook serves Facebook. Twitter serves me.
- Meanwhile LinkedIn has had no discernible impact on my career.
- I wonder if there’s been a study about how a founder’s temperament manifests in their company. Also, shower sandals are not appropriate public speaking attire.
- See How Your Creepy Ex-Co-Workers Will Kill Facebook.
