Twitter and Facebook differ, part 3

Posting on Twitter and Facebook differs a lot, not just because of the different maximum message lengths.
When you post on Twitter, your message is available for anyone on Twitter to read. This is an obvious advantage compared to Facebook. When I post on Facebook only my Facebook friends will read the message. If I want a lot of people to read my message I need a lot of friends. I might also have a Facebook page and try to get lots of people to like it. Whatever way you choose, it may take a long while to get enough friends. If I search on Facebook all I get is people or pages whose names include my search, when in fact I would like to find key-words in messages.
If you have something to say, Twitter is probably the better alternative. However there are more efficient ways of using Twitter. Your message is likely to benefit from including some tag, which is the #-sign immediately followed by a word. Any word will do, but it's better to use some word a lot of other people have already used. To get some tag-tips, see http://hashtags.org/. There you'll also see how often and recently they've been used.
If you're looking for a new job, you could search Twitter for #job or #freelance and many more tags. If you're looking for celebrities, you could look for #charliesheen or #ladygaga.

The App Concept

What's so good about apps? Let's look at them from the buyer's perspective.

Buying an app is quite similar to buying stuff on the Internet. Buying on the Internet is a bit similar to buying in a store. It's entertaining and exciting and safe if you choose a good vendor. It's shopping and most of us like it, unless we actually love it.

When you're done, you have another nice icon on your favorite device and some great functionality that can bring pleasure for as long as the device lasts and even on future generation devices. You can use the app whenever you like and as often as you like. It doesn't wear out and it won't cost you extra. Thanks to how mobile your device is, you can take it with you when going on holiday, going to work or going to the bathroom.

As if the above wasn't enough, apps are cheap and even free of charge.

What can you do with apps? Short answer is: anything you can do with a computer. What can't you do with apps? Anything you can't do with a computer. That includes brushing you teeth, walking the dog and doing the dishes.

The future for apps looks great. Future Internet browsers mated with lots of attractive web-apps is the only visible challenge. The future for smartphones looks great too.

Twitter and Facebook differ, part 2

A while ago I wrote about one difference between Twitter and Facebook: The way you select or make contacts on each of the services.
Another big difference is what you can write in a posting. On Twitter it's 140 characters maximum, but on Facebook it's 420, three times as many.
How many posts (status updates) are that long? Only a small percentage to my knowledge. In fact lots of the posts on Facebook would fit within a Twitter message. But there's more than status updates on Facebook. There's the Notes section too with much more space for expression.
Then there's Facebook's Like-button, which applies to single posts as well as for whole Facebook pages and groups. This is a great feature. It's so great that Google has copied it to its search results and more places in the hope of making its users interact more. You can also comment on posts, and sometimes it's so fast it's almost like chatting. BTW there's a separate chatting function too. And email.
Looking at Facebook and Twitter you notice that Facebook is a lot more comprehensive service. It's a universe. Twitter isn't. Within Facebook you have your wall and your friends' walls. You have the notes section and games and other applications that need Facebook's environment to function. You have events. You can have Facebook copy all your blogging onto your Facebook wall. You can do the same for other services like Bambuser (your private online TV station). You can be member of secret societies through a secret Facebook group. Due to all the above, I say Facebook is a universe.
Twitter does not have these aspirations, which lots of folk like. Twitter is for those who don't want to bond too much, and that includes many Facebook users. Twitter is somewhat more anonymous, while Facebook is anything but.
If you got this far: Thanks for reading! :-)

Right on the spot

Here's some really funny stuff I found on the net.
John Gruber explains what happens when different smartphone producers negotiate with the carriers. It shows the negotiation power that Apple has, due to its very desirable products.

- Android handset makers: Here are our phones. How would you like us to change them so that you will sell them?
- Microsoft: Here’s $200 million. Please sell our phones.
- Apple: Here is our new phone. It comes in black or white. We will let you sell it.

NumberWizFP sum: E46. Solution

Hi NumberWizards,

The question was: how do you add, subtract, multiply and divide 5 8 a 40 80 c0 to get e46 ?

There is no exact solution. The best one is e45:
e45 = (40 x 8 - 80) x a - (c0 - 5)

NumberWizFP sum: E46

Here's another hexadecimal sum for number wizards:
How do you add, subtract, multiply and divide 5 8 a 40 80 c0 to get e46 ?

Twitter and Facebook are quite different

Twitter and Facebook share a few characteristics. They are networks of people and companies. Each user has an identity and a feed or wall where he gets some news through the actions of his contacts. With Facebook the user selects his contacts by requesting friendship and accepting requests. With Twitter the user selects his contacts by following. And here the important similarities end.
The way you select your contacts is very different. The result is that users tend to have different contacts on the two networks. On Facebook your contacts are people you have met and perhaps meet with outside Facebook. On Twitter your contacts are people you most probably never met, but you find interesting. Another important difference is the way contacts are made. If your Facebook friend request is ignored, your friendship with that friend outside Facebook may cool down or worse. This does not happen on Twitter, because there's no mandatory reciprocity in following someone. I can follow anyone I like and they usually don't care much, and may not even notice me if they have many followers.
Twitter is open and Facebook is closed. I have to have friends to gain from Facebook. On Twitter this is not necessary. Following someone is a convenience rather than a must.
Much due to the contacts I have on both networks, I find them useful in quite different ways. Facebook gives me access to what my friends are doing or thinking. Twitter gives me access to what complete strangers, including celebrities, are up to.
A skilled twitterer producing many tweets can be great fun. Such a person can indeed wield quite some power: if someone with millions of followers endorses or rejects something, it's going to have noticeable consequences, and the results will show up quickly. I often click on a link that one of my contacts likes.
This is an interesting theme, which I'm sure I'll come back to. But enough for now and I wish You, valued reader, a prosperous 2012.