Facebook's last redesign killed any lingering desires for me to use Twitter. I don't like the constant Twitter-hate some people think is necessary, but I don't feel the need to tweet, either.
Facebook and Twitter are completely different. Don't see how a redesign of one would matter one iota for the other.
Facebook is about one-to-one relationships. Yes, there are "groups" and "become a fan of X", but the essence of Facebook, as in other traditional social networking sites, are bi-directional relationships. When I "friend" you and you accept, we are "friends" in both directions. There are no one-way "friends".
Twitter is broadcasting, one-to-many relationships. "Following" someone is a one-direction relationship. You can tell the people from older sites who don't grok this, insisting that all follows need be "followed back". But that fails to understand the power and appeal of Twitter. You can follow Oprah's Twitter feed, but you can't be Oprah's Facebook friend. (Replace "Oprah" with someone whose words you think hold value).
Also, something I left out: one of the most valuable parts of Twitter comes not from following certain people, but following a search term (or "hashtag").
Example: Michael Vick signing with the Eagles this past week. I found out about this from following the #NFL tag. I saw it there hours before even the first rumor blog picked it up, let alone ESPN.
For something more appropriate for this site: following the #defcon tag was easily the best resource I had during that event while I was stuck at work. Anything interesting that happened appeared instantly there.
Twitter is amazing for unfolding events. There's absolutely no counterpart to this on sites like Facebook, it's just a completely different focus.
> I saw it there hours before even the first rumor blog picked it up, let alone ESPN.
Does it really matter that you got the rumor/news hours before the story 'hit'? I can understand that getting such news as fast as possible might be a utility if you are a sports gamble, or sports reporter... But for the vast majority of people, do those extra couple of hours really matter?
I don't follow news. All I would use Twitter for is broadcasting to and receiving from friends. Once I cared about letting other people see my thoughts; not any more. So to me, Facebook serves for what I want it to serve as. I'd imagine that's the case for others.
As I said, I understand Twitter, I just don't see a need to use it.
