We all know that Facebook has a lot more people on it than Twitter, with the numbers recently going over 1 billion members for Facebook and over 500 million for Twitter, for this reason it makes it very easy to sit and say that Facebook is obviously better because more people are on it, however I don't think this is the case at all. I think that Facebook is better for personal users as it creates a world of you and your friends in the same place online, where you can have a look at what's going on and everyone you know can see what's going on with you. However for businesses pages it's hard to get "likes" unless you have a really obviously interesting product, and I feel that Twitter is a more open place where people want to interact.
Hashtags and Retweets
For me, a key reason for Twitter being superior for business is the brilliant hashtags and retweets, you can reach thousands upon thousands of relevant people with the right hashtag and by attracting the right people to retweet your material. Great examples of hashtags for businesses where I am based (Middlesbrough, UK) are #NorthEastHour #TeesTime and #ClevelandHour, these places can be hashtagged and thousands of businesses and customers can come together to take a look at businesses and people from the area. This can increase your follower numbers easily and bring together businesses and people who wouldn't have been able to come together anywhere else. It's like a huge networking event where everybody wants to talk to each other.Following, Followers, the private world of Facebook and annoying adverts
Another great way to gain followers is by following others, with Facebook you give someone a like and you rarely see a return of the favour, with Twitter it's almost common practice to give users a "follow back" meaning that the more you give to Twitter the more you receive. People still see Twitter as a new thing, so are really happy to network, the thing with Facebook is it's almost become real life for a lot of people, so they feel like it's a personal thing to talk to someone they don't know, Twitter is a brave new world where people are up for talking and are interested in what you have to say!With Facebook the only people you can really reach without looking spammy and writing on people's walls (which has recently changed so when you do post on someone's wall it doesn't show up on their wall for long it goes in to a small box nobody really looks at)/commenting on people's statuses promoting yourself is the people who take the time to click Like on your page, this, in a time where people are careful about what they are seen to actively "like" means that less and less people are taking the time to bother.
Another thing that bothers me with Facebook is the fact that adverts are becoming so popular, I watched the film "The Social Network" the other night where Mark Zuckerberg says "adverts aren't cool", which is very true! But now we see posts being paid for and being given priority over everybody elses, we see brands buying space on our Facebook home feeds even without us clicking like on them, how are small businesses meant to compete with that? Facebook is a free tool which is brilliant, but the adverts that are creeping in are making it difficult to stand out, heightening the importance of Twitter.
