Why I love Twitter and barely tolerate Facebook

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22 points·olivercameron··2 comments

I was going to write that Twitter is a one-to-many medium that, in my opinion, does not promote the sort of intimate conversation that Facebook does.

And then I reflected on my Facebook use and realized that it's been years since I've seen intimate conversation occurring there.

That having been said, both provide ambient knowledge of others. They allow me to sense the outlines of the daily lives of my old friends - ones who I would phone no more nor no less than I would without social media.

Regardless of what technical differences the two mediums have (like the manner in which they construct a conversation thread), the largest difference for me is social: less than five percent of people I know and meet are on Twitter.

Twitter for me is a news feed. I mostly follow folks who are top in their field and get my daily dose of what is from them. For good or bad.

> I was going to write that Twitter is a one-to-many medium that, in my opinion, does not promote the sort of intimate conversation that Facebook does.

I had the same assumption, but realized after I began using it that I have lots of one or two person conversations.

That twitter hides @replies from your stream that refer to people you don't also follow obscures just how much back-and-forth conversation there is.

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