Why I Prefer Facebook To Twitter

Today is the Thursday 21st June, 2012. In this day, I have eaten chicken dippers, and they were delicious. I have extended a weary hand of friendship to many people, and this is uplifting. I may have just lost myself a job for an inexplicably bad reason, and this is disheartening. But what could be more definitive of the Thursday 21st June, 2012, than the sudden temporary demise of Twitter?

The punters of the global "Twittersphere" wept virtual tears. Facebook has since been inundated with woeful status', wondering what we as a human race could've done to deserve such treachery from what is dubbed as the Bruce Almighty of all social media. Mark Zuckerburg, hear this now, or learn it later - today, you've become nothing more than a back-up option. You're the dingy boat, because - for reasons unknown - the cruise ship has left the docks.

Personally, I never really latched on to the hype of Twitter, though many of my friends have. I gave it a good shot, wrote a few Tweets, I didn't exactly "take off" and my ego wasn't lightly caressed as it is when my status' get likes. Defeated, I made a swift return to FB. I'm not entirely certain this wasn't also because Twitter did not offer me what Facebook can; voyeurism.Shameless, filthy, apparently legitimated disrespectful breaching of other's privacy.

Here are some other reasons why Twitter can get Twatted (?):

- 140 characters to sum up a comment seems a bit bland to me - it's a limited platform. Through the medium of the almighty Facebook status', you could write a short story describing your day, from the harrowing desicion of signing a letter "yours sincerely" or "best regards", to the exact amount of calories consumed in your Pret A Manger sandwich, and why exactly it was bad for you. Your thoughts, observations and opinions can be told free of word limits and having to write "to" as "2". It's not gauranteed that your friends won't think you're a boring douchebag if you kick the arse out of it, but hey, haters make you famous, right?

- It doesn't quite have the artistic credibility as Bebo, but Facebook roundhouse kicks Twitter in the stakes of personal expression. You can modify your FB to become more of a reflection (if slightly exaggarated) version of you; you can include more detail about yourself and your interests through your profile, exclusively delivering a representation of you that Twitter could never hope to offer. The cover photo feature is a precise rendering of the more awesome, less tedious aspects of your life. On Twitter, you can upload photos, have a teensy profile picture, and that's the world wide web's limited comprehension of you. Thus, the crucial window of self-depiction is a narrow one.

- The ticker feature on Facebook. 'Nuff said - that voyeurism I mentioned earlier is apparently a bad thing about social networks, but it nurtures my own once more.

- People like to think of their Twitter account as some kind of virtual cocktail party, with the doors open to everybody and friendly bouncers who will offer you cigarettes. Your Facebook is more the VIP Drinks Lounge; only your nearest and dearest can come and live a virtual dream and get on dat hype ting with you. Er, hello - can we try and see the beauty in this for a minute please?!  A peek of your life becoming so exclusive is a good feature. Also, if faced in a real life predicament, I would definitely choose the VIP Drinks Lounge, but I suppose this won't ever happen.

- See this thing I'm writing now? This blog? I would not be able to - ahem - "advertise" it so easily on Twitter. I don't write it for my own two eyes and to marvel at my own witty observations and pithy remarks (joking), and presuming you guys aren't going to seek out my blog yourselves, it's all down to some self-promotion. There has to be hook to lure you in; damnit, I can't write a good hook in so few characters!

- As handwritten letters have become a thing of the past, we've now kept up with the modernity and use impersonal social networks to talk to our friends and family. This is particularly valuable to me with my family being overseas, so I'd hope to be able to do it quickly and efficiently, privately or otherwise. Facebook is the captain of my virtual social heart, once more; the Twitter thought exchange is - a reccuring theme now - very limited, as is the messaging service. Facebook offers efficient connectivity in a variety of methods, plus the ability to attach photos and even "Facetime". Twitter does not have some kind of webcam facility.

It was reported recently that Twitter has a following of 200 million users. Facebook  has 600 million users.

Consider that a case rested.