Facebook reached a tipping point some time last year I’m sure.  That’s when I joined.  I was surprised by how many other had joined too.  When I joined the service, a colleague gave me a hard time.  He thought I was too old for Facebook.  After politely reminding him that I’m only 36, I told him how surprised I was by how many others are on there too. 

These days, not having a FB account is almost like it was to not have an email account in 2001. 

Then there’s Twitter.  Twitter is the popular thing at the moment, but I know very few people who actually use it.  It’s tipping point hasn’t been reached yet.  Celebrities use it.  There is no better way for a B-List celebrity to move up the ranks than to adopt the new technology.  Politicians use it.  Average ordinary people use it, too.  Just not many that I know.

I personally prefer Twitter. 

Facebook is nice in that it has so many people subscribed.  It’s nice that your friends have to be confirmed before they see your special little area.  But it’s also cluttered.  There’s a lot of talk about how Facebook as adopted a Twitter-like interface, but it is still filled with loads of clutter. Here’s the kind of things that bug me about it:

1.  Every other status update is “John Smith has taken the Blah blah quiz and found that he is a blah blah person”.  You voluntarily took a quiz?

2.  "So and so threw a snowball at you.  Do you want to throw one back?” or “So and so smiled at you.  Smile back?”  What does that mean?  Does it mean “I acknowledge that I know you, but I have nothing to say to you”?

3.   So many alerts and notices.  Alerts say things like “Someone voted for you as a nice person.  Go here to find out who.”  I get three of these a day.  I think I’m being spammed.

I suppose it isn’t all that bad.  I’ve been able to re-establish contact with people who I haven’t seen in years.  It’s nice to see what people are up to and where they’ve gone in life.  I’ve re-established contact with people I knew in High School and in the Army.   I know what my not-so-immediate family are doing and don’t have to wait for a reunion to see what they are up to.  I also get to see what kind of Doctor Who they would be because of a quiz they took.

Twitter is more self-obsessed really.  It says “If you want to follow me, then follow me—but I’m posting it anyway.”

I had installed a Facebook application which updates Facebook status with Twitter updates.  I had it for about a day before I turned it off.  It was just not right.  I might tweet something which I don’t want that group to see.  Posting 8-10 updates a day on Twitter is normal.  Updating your status 8-10 times a day on Facebook is just weird.

Twitter as a fad is definitely fading a bit.  People aren’t updating it like crazy anymore.  Some people will stick with it, I’m sure.  I probably will.  I like the open API and there is something to be said for expressing a thought where others could see it and getting it off your mind.  I like that any time I have some downtime (like standing in line), I can take out my iPhone and read the latest tweets by the people I follow.  I myself have something like 7 Twitter followers (as popular as ever).  I know they don’t hang on my every word.  I’m fine with that.

I’ll keep Facebook open.  I’ll update status from time to time.  But, I prefer the blog and I prefer Twitter.