4 ms·

What If Teens Prefer Twitter to Facebook?

12 points by msabalau 14y ago

kuahyeow 14y ago
I think lots of people have made this argument in the past three years. Very similar transitions from Friendster to MySpace, MySpace to Facebook. The cool place to be moves on, but I'm not sure it necessarily will affect Facebook's bottom line
ThomPete 14y ago
That is an interesting question and I can see a couple of reasons why that could happen. It's "SMS" + links + pictures + video Now that isn't in itself a reason why they wouldn't choose FB when they got to a little older but it's sure something for Twitter to think about IMO.
hristov 14y ago
Do you want to make a statement but have weak or non-existent evidence to back it up? Do you want to present wishful thinking as a fact? Do you want to make generalizations from anecdotal evidence? Why not phrase your statement as a question? Who can blame you for lacking evidence when you are merely asking a question?
- ThomPete 14y ago
  Isn't that what he is doing? The headline is a question.
  - hristov 14y ago
    You know, I thought I was a funny guy before I started posting on Hacker News.
    - dguaraglia 14y ago
      Your brand of sarcasm doesn't translate well to written form :)
    - ThomPete 14y ago
      And I thought I was good with language :) Sorry I got it now.
- untog 14y ago
  A classic, straight from the "have you stopped beating your wife?" book.
smashing 14y ago
Younger people flock to systems which are the easiest to setup and use. Facebook has a larger moat than twitter especially with regard to the default settings vs Twitter.
- mtr 14y ago
  Is FB really that hard to setup and use? I'm most likely to respond to someone on FB and often find myself wondering if it wouldn't be better to respond somehow with a CC: to Twitter but it's not obvious how to do this effectively.
kleiba 14y ago
The trend is obvious: the next big thing is going to be a message exchange platform where you're limited to 20 characters, but you can see everyone's messages as they type them. And all of them at once. And you can actually change other people's message as they type them. :-)
jinushaun 14y ago
Young people that use Twitter as a messaging platform blow my mind. How many more scandals will it take before they they realize that replies are public tweets?
recoil 14y ago
Only three years ago we were hearing how twitter was doomed because teens don't tweet! [1][2] On the other hand, while I'm not a teen (by a long shot), I do find facebook more restrictive in terms of the things I feel I can say. Somehow twitter is more anonymous, despite being more public. On facebook I get the impression that people are more likely to pay attention to my ramblings. [1] http://techcrunch.com/2009/08/30/why-dont-teens-tweet-we-asked-over-10000-of-them/ http://techcrunch.com/2009/08/30/why-dont-teens-tweet-we-ask... [2] http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/online_mobile/teens-dont-tweet-twitters-growth-not-fueled-by-youth/ http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/online_mobile/teens-dont...

12 points by msabalau 14y ago

I think lots of people have made this argument in the past three years. Very similar transitions from Friendster to MySpace, MySpace to Facebook. The cool place to be moves on, but I'm not sure it necessarily will affect Facebook's bottom line

ThomPete 14y ago

That is an interesting question and I can see a couple of reasons why that could happen. It's "SMS" + links + pictures + video Now that isn't in itself a reason why they wouldn't choose FB when they got to a little older but it's sure something for Twitter to think about IMO.

hristov 14y ago

Do you want to make a statement but have weak or non-existent evidence to back it up? Do you want to present wishful thinking as a fact? Do you want to make generalizations from anecdotal evidence? Why not phrase your statement as a question? Who can blame you for lacking evidence when you are merely asking a question?

ThomPete 14y ago
Isn't that what he is doing? The headline is a question.
- hristov 14y ago
  You know, I thought I was a funny guy before I started posting on Hacker News.
  - dguaraglia 14y ago
    Your brand of sarcasm doesn't translate well to written form :)
  - ThomPete 14y ago
    And I thought I was good with language :) Sorry I got it now.
untog 14y ago
A classic, straight from the "have you stopped beating your wife?" book.

smashing 14y ago

Younger people flock to systems which are the easiest to setup and use. Facebook has a larger moat than twitter especially with regard to the default settings vs Twitter.

mtr 14y ago
Is FB really that hard to setup and use? I'm most likely to respond to someone on FB and often find myself wondering if it wouldn't be better to respond somehow with a CC: to Twitter but it's not obvious how to do this effectively.

kleiba 14y ago

The trend is obvious: the next big thing is going to be a message exchange platform where you're limited to 20 characters, but you can see everyone's messages as they type them. And all of them at once. And you can actually change other people's message as they type them. :-)

jinushaun 14y ago

Young people that use Twitter as a messaging platform blow my mind. How many more scandals will it take before they they realize that replies are public tweets?

recoil 14y ago

Only three years ago we were hearing how twitter was doomed because teens don't tweet! [1][2] On the other hand, while I'm not a teen (by a long shot), I do find facebook more restrictive in terms of the things I feel I can say. Somehow twitter is more anonymous, despite being more public. On facebook I get the impression that people are more likely to pay attention to my ramblings. [1] http://techcrunch.com/2009/08/30/why-dont-teens-tweet-we-asked-over-10000-of-them/ http://techcrunch.com/2009/08/30/why-dont-teens-tweet-we-ask... [2] http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/online_mobile/teens-dont-tweet-twitters-growth-not-fueled-by-youth/ http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/online_mobile/teens-dont...