To friend or follow? That is the question

When asked to compare Facebook and Twitter, the first thing I thought of was how opposed to both of them I was at first. Before Facebook, I was an avid Myspace junkie, always writing meaningless blog posts about how bored I was on any given day. Now, I realize the purpose of social media, though at first I was stubborn in signing up for a Facebook account and didn't understand Twitter's purpose.

Facebook                                                                                               

• A good way to stay in touch with friends and family
• Option to write 'notes' as blogs
• Status updates longer than 140 characters
• Information about events (Ie. birthday parties, fundraisers)
• I actually know most of the people I'm friends with
• Facebook chat allows for quick conversations with out a direct message

Twitter

• Great source to find out what unreachable people are up to (Ie.George Stromboulopoulos)
• Access to newsworthy information- tweets from the Globe and Mail
• No blog format means no long form writing like this nifty blog here
• Trending topics keep you informed about what people are talking about

 I would say there is a lot more direct communication on Facebook, with friends and family, having conversations, commenting on statuses, or sending messages. There's also room for tons of picturse on Facebook which gives people a real sense of who you are and what you're up to.

In terms of what Facebook and Twitter do for PR, it's all about who your audience is and what you're intending to communicate. Both sites are good for getting out a general message about something, but if you want to make an event page with lots of pertinent information attached, Facebook is the way to go. If you just want to publicize someone's website a tweet would work. No matter what you use these social media sites for, they're both great tools for communication.