A Comparative Analysis of Facebook and Twitter: Key Differences

This essay offers a comparative analysis of Facebook and Twitter, two prominent social networking sites. It begins with an introduction highlighting the pervasive influence of these platforms on personal and business branding. The essay argues that Facebook is superior due to its broader range of applications and enhanced account security. It contrasts the platforms' scopes, user-friendliness, and privacy features. Facebook is presented as versatile, supporting personal connections, business promotion, and private conversations, while Twitter is limited to micro-blogging. The essay also discusses user-friendliness, where Twitter excels in customer service, and privacy and security, where Facebook offers more robust settings. The conclusion reinforces the argument for Facebook's superiority, summarizing its diverse applications and security measures. The essay includes a reference list with relevant academic sources.

Running head: COMPARATIVE WRITING
Comparative Writing
Name of the Student:
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Introduction:
With the advent of technology, multiple social media channels have permeated the
market of social media sites, attracting a wide spectrum of users. Considering how these sites
have become an indispensible part of the lives of the youths as well as business managers,
influencing personal image or brand image, the essay intends to offer a comparative study of two
important social networking sites-Facebook and Twitter. The essay intends to establish that
Facebook is a better social networking site than Twitter on ground of array of application and
security of the account holder.
Wide Scope of Use Versus Limited Scope of Application:
While Facebook is a popular online social networking site, used for sharing pictures and
posts as well as private conversation with friends and unknown people, Twitter is a micro-
blogging site that lets people express their views in no more than 140 words (Chauhan &
Hughes, 2017). The first major difference between the two social networking sites lies in the fact
that Facebook is a social networking site that can be harnessed for forming personal relationships
and sharing glimpse of personal lives, as well as for promoting and endorsing one’s business
products. However, on the other hand, the scope of Twitter’s application in daily use is limited,
as it helps one to network personal ideas and viewpoints and topics, rather than establishing
connection with people. After all, unlike Facebook, the Twitter does not have any Messenger to
chat on, nor does its timeline allow one to communicate anything more than 140 words.
User-Friendly Application:
Despite the greater popularity of Facebook, it is undeniable that Twitter is way smarter
and user-friendly than Facebook. This is especially a better choice when a consumer is trying to

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complain about a product and reach out to the concerned company to communicate the grievance
(Petrocchi et al., 2015). Even after the consumer has liked the official Facebook page of the
company, and mentions it in its post or messages on Facebook Messenger, he may not get any
reply at all. On the other hand, on Twitter if the person uses a hash tag and mentions the
company using @, he is bound to receive a quick response from the company, and in most of the
cases his problem will be solved as well (Davenport et al., 2014).
Privacy and Security Issues:
This is again an important point where Twitter will lose out to Facebook. While
Facebook allows multiple privacy settings to its users, whereby a single post can be shared either
with the public, or with friends, or with only one person. On the other hand, Twitter posts are
public, and lacks privacy settings to secure an account (Chauhan & Hughes, 2015). Unlike
Facebook, Twitter does not allow one to block the user or delete a follower, and every shared
content is merely visible, that makes it less suitable for use, as compared to Facebook.
Conclusion:
Although both Facebook and Twitter are two important social networking sites of today’s
world, the above comparison clearly establishes Facebook to be a better social networking site.
With a variety of applications, such as sharing of personal posts, ideas and opinions, and
initiation of private conversation with known and unknown people alike, and yet ensuring
security of the account, Facebook has it all.

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Reference List:
Chauhan, A., & Hughes, A. L. (2015). Facebook and Twitter Adoption by Hurricane Sandy-
affected Police and Fire Departments. In ISCRAM.
Chauhan, A., & Hughes, A. L. (2017). Overview of Event Based Resources on Facebook and
Twitter: Fort McMurray Wildfire, May 2016.
Davenport, S. W., Bergman, S. M., Bergman, J. Z., & Fearrington, M. E. (2014). Twitter versus
Facebook: Exploring the role of narcissism in the motives and usage of different social
media platforms. Computers in Human Behavior, 32, 212-220.
Petrocchi, N., Asnaani, A., Martinez, A. P., Nadkarni, A., & Hofmann, S. G. (2015). Differences
between people who use only Facebook and those who use Facebook plus
Twitter. International journal of human-computer interaction, 31(2), 157-165.