Twitter: It's Not Just For "What I Had For Breakfast" Anymore

: Image via CrunchBase

Twitter is for “geeks” and Facebook is for everyone else. That’s the conventional wisdom (and partial truth) these days.

Fact is, if you take away the games and other extras that Facebook offers, Twitter and Facebook primarily operate on the same concept: staying connected and finding interesting people to follow.

Its true that our Twitter followers lean a bit more toward the “geeky” side while our Facebook network is predominantly made up of “everyone else.”

But get this: We’re all geeks! Yep, using either Twitter or Facebook makes you a geek compared to the rest of the world which is still waking up to the fact that so much can be done on the web these days.

While everyone seems to have a Facebook account, having one and regularly using one are two different things. Many people have signed up for either Twitter or Facebook, or both, out of passive peer pressure to do so without showing any interest in using the services on a regular basis (yet).

twitter is for geeks? So, if you’re a geek whether you use Twitter OR Facebook, why do Geeks (capital G) use Twitter more than Facebook?

There are lots of answers to that question. My reasoning is that Twitter is cleaner and has a much clear, simple goal of communication and finding information from others I can use. The same argument could be used for Facebook, but there is no doubt that the noise level there is much higher with advertising, games, event invites, and all the other competing attention-drainers.

There has to be a reason that web professionals (people who work on the web for a living) seem to prefer Twitter. Our members who do web design, online marketing, or programming seem to be most active on Twitter. Most of them have little to no presence on Facebook, in fact.

It’s sort of like the age-old battle between cat and dog people.

For my part, I’d like to see more of our followers and members trying out Twitter because there are local people there who aren’t using Facebook. Actually interesting people who follow web trends that can lead us to new discoveries and neat things going on around the web. (While also Tweeting about deplorable rest area bathroom conditions on the way to a concert.)

wayne county twitter It might be fair to say that Twitter users are more plugged in to the technology and tech trends that make for a more rich online experience. Instead of seeing the web as something that emanates from Facebook, the Twitter set tends to see the web and all it has to offer as including Facebook and tons of other really cool places the Facebook-centric are missing out on.

While Twitter takes the rap for being the place where everyone talks what they’ve eaten recently, the fact is the “what I had for breakfast” crowd is actually more active on Facebook than anywhere else. It all depends on who you follow on either network, of course. Friends and family seem to be more interested in each others mundane daily regimens than business associates and professional followers. You’ll find the same kinds of status updates on both social networks.

If you want to explore what (and whom) you might be missing, get back on your Twitter account and do a search for Wayne County or your town and see if you can’t just find a reason to be active in both.

You might even defect to Twitter if you like the more simple, clean, less noisy environment.

Oh, and make sure you’re following GoWayneCounty.com on BOTH Twitter and Facebook. 🙂