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Social Computing: Followers versus Fans — Same, but Different
Two of the hottest social computing technologies going today are Twitter and FaceBook. Twitter has its followers and Facebook has fans. And businesses are doing their darnedest to turn the knobs of these high-tech tools to steer as many fans and followers to their franchise.
Both Twitter and Facebook demonstrate these social networking benefits:
- Build a brand
- Better communication with customers
- Drives traffic to Company Web Site
- Helps Find New Customers
- Helps generate leads
- Helps retain clients
- Viral — Helps Spread the Word
- Allows profiling of visitors
- Promotes Better online connections
- International Reach
- Advertising
- Keep an eye on your competition
There is huge overlap between the benefits of Facebook and Twitter. But Facebook is more static and Twitter much more real-time. The real-time element allows Twitter to reach out and is better as acting as an alert or alarm, and possibly encouraging more two-way communication than Facebook. The static versus real-time difference is telling in which companies are successful users of these tool.
| Facebook top 10 | Twitter Top 10 |
| Coca-Cola | The New York Times |
| Starbucks | E! OnLine |
| Disney | NBA |
| Victoria’s Secret | CNN |
| iTunes | Whole Foods |
| VitaminWater | Breaking News Wire |
| YouTube | Etsy (Customer Support) |
| Chick-fil-A | Health Magazine |
| Red Bull | jetBlue Airways |
| TGIFridays | Silicon Alley Insider |
After comparing the names in the two lists, we see that high-volume Twitter businesses tend to offer up headline news with links to articles, while Facebook companies are more commercial, brand-focused and more visual in the type of data they can present.
