U.S. venture capital expert Bill Gurley on his blog recently published an article entitled” You Don’t Have To Tweet To Twitter “article, the main points is “to use Twitter, you do not have to push the issue. “

Bill Gurley to get Facebook to compare, to explain his mind,” social networking “concept:

• Facebook is more than a for more communication network for sharing information with friends and personal current situation. Its focus is interactive: you add me as a friend, I added you as a friend, and we share information.
• Twitter is a -to-many of the broadcast networks. It is not for everyone to “push the issue”, but to get everyone to pay attention. I do not need my attention people are concerned about me, I do not even registered, you can get on to Twitter I want information. I do not like big sharks oni Jai me as friend, I can get him to share information about his current situation.

• on Facebook, your audience to share information only your friends, it has symmetry . Twitter highly asymmetric , your hair is pushed all the concerns you face the people – not just people with your mutual interest.

• Twitter is an “information tool”, “discovery engine”, an “enhanced version of the RSS”. It is a media celebrity platform to release information, for most people is a major access to information is an important source. Many people just get information, do not push the issue.

So, he thinks Twitter is not a real social network, it should be the face of the other competitors ‘information tools’ “discovery engine” , rather than Facebook. There is no doubt of Facebook friends to share information with the first platform, and its competitors should be email, instant messaging, and other social network such as symmetric MySpace.

conclusion of this article “Twitter social networking sites like Facebook does not belong to the category” aroused extensive discussions. In the eyes of the mass media, Twitter has been called with the Facebook social networking leader. Suddenly a man came out at the moment, said: “In fact, Twitter is not a social network. “Your reaction is estimated to be:” What? Are you kidding? “

caused controversy

after reading this blog, TechCrunch editor Robin Wauters is such a reaction, so he wrote an article “Twitter, There Is Nothing Wrong With Being A Social Network” response, meaning “Twitter is undoubtedly a social network.”

Facebook and Twitter do have obvious differences, and usefulness of the two platforms are not the same. But this does not mean that Twitter is not a social network.

years I have been to Twitter as a social network to use. Or private letter sent to push through, I with my friends, colleagues and peers have never met to exchange and share resources. I put a lot of Twitter as a third-party applications and to provide authentication service role.

Twitter’s one-way characteristics of attention and access to information can not be that it is not a social network, in fact, Facebook is also doing the same work – in September this year, F8 Conference , Facebook launched a similar Twitter, Google + one-way function of attention – subscribe .

Twitter is not just to see musicians to share their journey and work experience, not just to see politicians share their views, it is not just from the news organization (or correspondents, experts) to obtain news and unique insights. Large group of users on Twitter have in their own circles to communicate, this part should not be just because Twitter users do not want to be in direct competition with Facebook ignored. If Twitter is not a social network, then imagine if Twitter remove send private messages to other users because the function is an inherent issue private letter social activities, can you imagine? Users will certainly resist.

on this issue, Robert Scoble on Google + also wrote an article in response. “Is Twitter a social network? Wrong question. Here’s why “

why Twitter Twitter itself and investors are reluctant to admit that Twitter is a social network? The largest social network in this area because there are big giant Facebook. Most companies are reluctant to head with Facebook, MySpace typical examples are racking their brains to prove that they did not like social networks like Facebook, but a personalized entertainment center. But in fact MySpace is a fully-fledged social network.

fact, Twitter is not a social network of the debate and change anything. Despite Twitter’s management and investors unwilling to admit, but obviously can not hide Twitter and Facebook, in essence, there are many functional duplication. So, admit it, Twitter and Facebook is a social network that leads, this is no big deal. Its great pains to prove that they are not a social network, as the difficulties, after all, Twitter is also promising, especially in the advertising industry.

domestic situation

talking about Twitter, it is natural to think of China’s Sina microblogging. There is no doubt, Sina microblogging explosion of information on the volume, timeliness and communication faster than the other Chinese SNS website. So how many people actually asked: “I’m doing on the microblogging? “

One answer: Sina microblogging is indeed a very good platform for information access, is suitable for generation of opinion leaders soil.

answer two: Whether you want to, “recommended users” in that column will always appear with your family, friends, colleagues, or you have a common concern with a stranger … & hellip ; share with them the current situation, the social exchange of ideas will come.

first spread, then social, rather than “side by side here,” much better.

(title figure from this lyre lark)