Facebook and Twitter are two fantastically versatile social networking sites used by almost everyone who is interested in networking...socially. Strangely enough, both of these industry titans could be considered late-comers to the social networking game.
Facebook is what would happen if Myspace and classmates.com had a child, and that child did not inherit either of those sites' sketchiness, but was instead baby Jesus.
Facebook was born nine years after classmates.com hit the web, and only a year after Myspace started. Founder Mark Zuckerberg was probably on his Myspace page, saw an ad for classmates.com, thought "durrr," and the rest is history.
Twitter, meanwhile, is the new tour de force on the social networking scene. Arriving in 2007, Twitter really exploded in the late 2008, early 2009 season to become the powerhouse it is now. Creator Jack Dorsey, inspired by the dominance of Facebook, decided to look at all the pieces that formed the framework of Facebook's success: the photo albums were a nice touch, Dorsey thought, but there was already Flickr. The privacy aspect set Facebook apart from Myspace, but a web site about privacy would just be silly.
Then, while checking his News Feed, Dorsey noticed how many status updates he had, and decided to make a web site that was basically a pimped out version of status updates. He called it Twitter.
Realizing people have ridiculously short attention spans and love cute things, he imposed a 140-character limit and put cute blue birds everywhere, because "Twitter" apparently means the sound of a bird chirping.
The meteoric rise to popularity of Facebook and Twitter according to Alexa.com, an Internet traffic tracking company, Facebook is the second most visited site on the entire Internet, while Twitter is the 13th caused a stir in the business world. Companies created Facebook pages and took out creepy ads that know everything about you. Yes, I would love a free, green Macbook, and yes, I am a New Hampshire resident. Luckily I already have ripped abs ... but what would they look like if I turned myself into a cartoon Ashton Kutcher?
Twitter doesn't have ads, but companies can promote themselves through the site, working to gather a large number of followers or become a "trending topic."
Following your boss on Twitter makes sure that instead of receiving annoying, long-winded work e-mails or the occasional bombardment of lolcatz you (along with everyone else) receive a short, sweet, generic message like, "looking 4ward 2 merger."
Friending your boss on Facebook is a little trickier than following him on Twitter. People have lost their jobs due to Facebook, but that is just because they are dumb and did dumb things it is no fault of Facebook's.
Some important things to remember when friending your boss on Facebook are:
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Why are you friending your boss on Facebook?
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Is your profile picture something classy? If not, throw on a sweater vest, grab a glass of red wine and take a picture pronto.
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Make sure you keep all your pictures and videos private, and do not rant about your job on Facebook.
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If you get fired, it is completely your fault why would you ever friend your boss on Facebook?
Facebook and Twitter may be viewed by some simply as procrastination tools, and I agree that my research for this article made writing it take several hours longer than it should have, but that is irrelevant.
Both sites have switched the target group of social networking from creepy old men to friends trying to stay in touch, and for that alone they should be applauded. The baby boomer generation has finally figured out how to use Facebook and Twitter, and the only downside of this is the influx of friend requests and tweets from your friends' or even your own parents.
Facebook messaging has slowly killed off the "hey watsup" e-mail (and good riddance), while Facebook chat is taking aim at AIM.
Twitter, meanwhile, is having trouble moving on after its somewhat recent break up with Iranian politics, but should hopefully stay strong until someone else uses it for something important again.
