Monica O'Brien is the author of the book Social Pollination: Escape the Hype of Social Media and Join the Companies Winning At It. The book is a step-by-step guide for small and mid-sized businesses that want to find more customers effectively. Get the book:
Gen Y Marketing Trends Point to Twitter, Not Facebook
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Monica O'Brien is the Director of Digital at Fizz and author of the book Social Pollination, which helps businesses leverage social media for crazy growth!
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{ 39 comments… read them below or add one }
Great, thorough post, Monica. Facebook's recent changes to using the News Feed and Live Feed also does nothing to help its case for being an easy way to reach its users.
Sure, I think there are some companies on Facebook who have gotten it right and have used it very well to build relationships with their fans (Threadless, for example), but too many are still just trying to use it as a pedestal where they can yell at consumers instead of starting conversations with them.
For me, Twitter (in it's correct use, anyways) allows for much more conversational interactions, which I think companies can (and many already are) really tap into and use to their advantage.
Great post!
I'm with Jackie in that I think if used correctly Twitter's platform might have better conversational potential… BUT…
Twitter's growth is growing stagnant, whereas Facebook is continuing to grow. The vast majority of my friends find Twitter to be “gay,” while ALL OF THEM are on Facebook.
I don't think it's the platform that needs to change, I think it's the way MOST companies use Facebook to market.
Hi Jackie,
I agree. The companies I work with have a problem getting started on Facebook. Threadless has done an amazing job – I tell just about all companies to try to steal any ideas they can from Threadless' efforts – but the biggest problems small companies face are that they can't get any fans, and the fans they have don't interact that well.
Twitter is just easier to get started on for companies. Facebook is a great platform but if you are looking to start a fan base, Twitter works better. Maybe at some point you'll be able to connect with your Twitter people on Facebook too.
Thanks for the comment!
Ryan,
Those are great points. I think Facebook is growing, but I think it's growing in the older demographics. I read that something like 96% of Gen Y Americans are on Facebook though – can't argue with those numbers!
I think though, that we can give Twitter some benefit of the doubt in growth. Facebook is going on 6 years while Twitter has only had 2 to really gain traction. It doesn't have the numbers yet, but it does have all the most vocal members of our generation – the people who are more likely to become brand advocates anyway.
How should companies be using Facebook to market, in your opinion? In my experience even just marketing this blog, Twitter is much easier.
Yea, you especially run into problems with companies who are new to social media and want to see results (which for them means followers) right away. Unfortunately, 9 times out of 10, that ain't happening, haha.
I think it's easier because we live in an insular world where we sit around and circle jerk all of our first moving/influential egos. But just because we're vocal on social media platforms doesn't necessarily make us the most influential people with respect to brands I don't think. In some cases, certainly, but am I any more influential for a type of beer than the frat daddy president/college athlete that carries a case of it to every party and beer league softball game he attends? It's hard to measure that, it's different.
I think if you're marketing Facebook “right,” and that entails entirely too much to discuss here, you'd have a better chance of reaching a critical mass than you would on Twitter. Perhaps Twitter is better for getting the ball rolling with certain influencers (depending on your industry/product), and Facebook is better when you want to go full scale? Good questions.
Jackie,
That's the problem I see companies facing, especially the small ones with no budgets. They can't get traction, so they get frustrated and quit.
Perhaps Twitter is a place companies can start with social media, to get their feet wet and see results quickly?
Ryan,
I thought the whole circle jerking ego thing might come up
.
I agree that we are not more influential than everyone else in our generation. Gen Y influentials are determined by how many friends they have, period. So a blogger isn't necessarily more influential, but he/she is probably more vocal.
For big businesses, you can probably market on Facebook and do fine. Most seem to use ads, but hey, there's Threadless. For small businesses, they just don't get traction in my experience. Facebook isn't a place to build brand awareness if you don't have money.
I think you are right – Twitter is where companies (at least small ones) should start with social media. In time, they can move their networks to Facebook, which is actually much more robust and probably a better sharing tool to reach the masses. Twitter is a place to find a new network, Facebook is a place to cultivate it once it's large enough.
Great post. I really liked the way in which you have all of the research presented. I myself have actually not used facebook in about a year because it was becoming too much of a social scene and not enough of a professional one. (There is definitely room for both, I just was a bit tired of the Facebook one). Twitter is now my new favorite thing, partly due to its' simplicity, and the ability to talk to people you don't know.
Thanks for the well thought out post!
Thanks Beth, it took awhile to find all those links! I wanted to back up my claims as best I could.
I don't use Facebook all that often either – I love the platform but my Twitter peeps are so much better at sharing things that I care about in my professional life. Plus we would have never met each other through Facebook, but on Twitter it was easy to reach out.
Thanks for the comment Beth!
I couldn't agree more with this.
While I have been an avid Facebook user for the last 5 years, I rarely if ever, use it for anything other than personal reasons. I am much more open to marketing, promotion and generally anything business related, via Twitter than I am Facebook. And frankly, I think Twitter is a much better equipped to handle that stuff than Facebook
Sean,
I'm the same way actually. Even though I have a blog and I'm really into social media, I still only use Facebook to talk to my friends.
It's just simply less of a commitment to chat with a company on Twitter. I don't have to become a friend or fan, I don't have to opt-in to every message they send out – I can check them out and listen on Twitter, and unfollow them if they aren't my thing.
Thanks for sharing your opinion – seems like a lot of people in our generation agree!
This article may be valid for English-speaking people, but after trying to set up a Twitter presence for the nonprofit I’m working for, I’ve found that using Twitter for anything more than personal use is full of traps.
On Twitter, there are a number of things that you naturally do that will get you into a semi-blocked state which they call filtered, and apparently it is extremely easy to get yourself semi-blocked while you customize your profile, fix typing mistakes, post URL’s from your own web site, or just plain tweet in a language that is not English. I suppose people just have to keep in mind that when you use Twitter you have to get everything right the first time, and if you make a mistake don’t try to fix it, or you’ll get into trouble.
I really want to be proved wrong, but my experience with Twitter’s support forums just make me worry more, not less.
Interesting point. I think this honnestly depends on something more like their personal interests, extremely social INTERNET users will flock to the likes of Twitter, while socially active people will flock to Facebook. I don't think Gen Y has a prefference over which social services to use, it moreso comes down to where there friends are.
I've truly never had that problem. Let me know if you need any help setting up your Twitter, I can help you.
Justin,
That's a good point. There will be different demographics on each site. Personally, I use both, so I guess the good news is that you don't need to choose, maybe just choose which network to join first.
Thanks for the comment!
Thanks, but I’ve got it already set up. I never experience problems like this with my own personal twitter, it’s just when I tried to set up for work that I’ve found it full of traps. Now I just wonder how to get it out of the half-block, and how to actually use it for work without triggering another one…
Great blog post. Is there a link to actual research from Hill and Knowlton? I clicked on the link, but it just went to their website.
Thanks!
Neal,
There is no link at this time because the research isn't published. I actually know one of the researchers, and I'm trying to convince him to let me talk about the research he shared with me. Fingers crossed!
Thanks for the comment, and glad to find someone who's a bit of a research junkie like me
.
I would never, ever connect with a company or brand on Facebook as a primary interaction. I always seek them out through Twitter, establish a connection with their rep and if they ask me to connect on Facebook it's an afterthought.
Intriguing perspective. When I first saw those Pew statistics when they were released, I noticed that 43% of ages 35+ used Twitter as more significant than the Gen Y usage.
…also, keep in mind that 60% of new Twitter users give up after the first month. This noteworthy statistic is not in the above chart; and I bet it's more common with the younger ones.
Actually, seriously, I wonder how valid such analyses on age data is even valid. Leaving a true date of birth on certain sites is dangerous, and I would say this includes post-applications Facebook. Personally, if I am to set up a Page (and it seems that we’ll set one up in the next couple of weeks), I would never trust any of the age data myself and I’d tell my coworkers never to trust them.
Ari,
Interesting comment – but I'm not sure why 43% of non Gen Y messaging service users would be more significant than 68% of Gen Y users, especially considering the chart doesn't even account for anyone under 18.
Also, there is nothing to suggest that more of the new Twitter users who quit are in Gen Y. Can you explain where you are getting some of your data/intuition from?
Ambrose,
I can't think of a single situation where my date of birth on a social network would be dangerous information, unless I was under 21. Gen Y doesn't think like that. Data privacy in terms of age is not an issue on social media sites, as far as I know. Can you explain?
Sure, the statistics on 60% of new Twitter users quitting after a month date to April 2009 from Nielsen – http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/online_mobi... – and reviewed in a slew of places, e.g. http://mashable.com/2009/04/28/twitter-quitters/
And where do you get 68% are Gen Y? General presumptions are Gen Y is from ~1978 to ~1985, so half of the 31% are irrelevant to your discussion.
I'm very aware of the 60% statistic, the part I am not sure of is how over half of those people are Gen Y, which was your argument.I misspoke on the second figure in my comment, but not in the post. That still doesn't explain why 43% is more significant to you. IMO, the fact that the largest demographic is 18-24 year olds, all of whom would be Gen Y, is significant given that everyone says “teens don't tweet.” I'm open to other interpretations of the data so my question is if you could elaborated on why the 43% is significant to you.
Celebrities.
My unscientific assumption is more teens and post-college 20somethings are joining Twitter as a direct result of celebrities asking their fans to follow them from their websites, their emails, etc.
If you could gauge the ages of the typical followers of Ashton Kutcher, Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, etc., I am betting you will see less people in the collective 43% bracket (who also tweeting less about what they're eating for breakfast) and hence are more likely to remain beyond a month. Hence, are more significant.
Hi Monica, pre-applications and post-applications Facebook are very different. Applications can get at any of your personal information, and anyone can write an application. So the distrust is not on Facebook (the social networking site) itself, but on applications (which are really random, unknown third-party sites).
Also, why would you feel Gen-Y doesn't think like that? Before Facebook, I and my friends used Friendster, and most, if not all, of my friends enter inaccurate years of birth. Although I am not Gen-Y myself, I have lots of Gen-Y friends and NONE of them entered a real year of birth on Friendster. (Month and day are usually correct, for birthday notification purposes.)
That's a really good point. Maybe Dan Zarella will study that soon, he seems to do a lot of Twitter research through the API.
I agree that the research done so far isn't interpreting the true trends that well, but it's all we have to go off of for now. Thanks for the comment!
Ambrose,
That's interesting. I am in Gen Y but I don't know anyone who had a Friendster account, so I can't speak to your experience at all.
It's hard to speak for a generation as a whole but in my experience, entering a real DOB is not an issue for myself or my friends. I guess some applications can access it, but then what? It's not like it's my SSN or my age is a secret. Maybe there's a good reason to keep that a secret, but I haven't found it yet.
The way I understand it is that your real DOB is used for resetting or getting around your password in a lot of sites, including a lot of banking and other sensitive sites. If you never have to use your DOB for this purpose I suppose it’s not a problem. But who knows who is behind that application (read: random web site that is not the social networking site you trust)? It could be a spammer, someone who wants to just get your DOB to fill out that bank application, or worse.
In my experience my friends don’t keep their ages a secret either, but only if you’re a real person. If you are just a web site, that can be a different thing. But I agree that it’s hard to speak for a generation as a whole, or speak of identifiable generations. A lot of times I feel that this generations thing is more of a stereotype than reality.
Great thoughts on this! I didn't know that Twitter is more popular than Facebook in Generation Y.
As for me, I find Facebook more appealing than Twitter. For one, you could use the chat feature to directly message your friends much like using a Yahoo Messenger. Also, Facebook offers a lot of games and application to entertain its users.
Def agree that Facebook is more commonly used as a closed community. It is not the platform to build consumer relationships. Facebook provides the opportunity to engage with one's carefully selected clique. It is where you can perve on your secret crush, catch-up with friends overseas, share memories and take a break from the humdrum of everyday life.
This is a nice post! Twitter doesn't make complications. It's direct and effective. And that is what Marketing wants. I hate how Facebook keeps on changing the layout, the features the settings and all.
Blogging makes easy with Twitter. Simple and to-the-point. The structure and design of Twitter just shows it statement. People are more and more inclined to broadcast their life and livelihoods online and they found just the right place. And where there is a lot of people, that is the perfect way to build a business. Twitter is really the perfect marketing tool today.
Hands down, Twitter is much more productive than facebook. I've been a member of facebook for a couple of years longer than Twitter, but I've made so many more connections on Twitter than I ever could have on facebook. Until recently, I used Tweetdeck to follow both feeds, Twitter & facebook; however, recent changes to facebook prevent me from being able to do that any longer. Those changes just added to my dissatisfaction with facebook. At this point, I only sign in to facebook once per week versus Twitter daily.
Nice article!
I rarely try to make any (new) connections on Facebook, but I feel a lot of people will agree that the most thing we don’t like about Facebook is the constant, illogical changes; What Twitter (and all other social networks or things resembling social networks to some degrees) has is simplicity and stability. I think Facebook has been trying too hard to “follow the trend” and be everyone else, when the best thing it could have done was to stick to its own character and be itself.
Great article. Thorough and well written I like the variety of sources you have used.
I think most Gen Y doesn't like to connect with any company on Facebook or Twitter unless that relationship offers them something of value: pertinent info, discounts, exclusive offers, etc.
In my experience of using both platforms to help companies connect with their audiences the results are varied. If the company is small and offers services then Twitter is the way to go. If the company is large and product focused Facebook often yields more sales. These are the only hard and fast rules I have noticed. The groups in between have to take the proper time to do market research and see where exactly their customers are. A Pew research study from November placed the number of Americans updating a social status on a regular basis (once/day) was about 20%. This is for the general population. This number is still too low for a lot of companies.
I have to disagree with your statement about Twitter being the way to go for businesses looking to hit the <24 demo. There is no statistical proof of the younger demo flocking to Twitter. The top graph is a reflection of the shift from early adopters to early majority in the product life cycle of twitter. In fact, qualitative research from teachers and 20 somethings shows that for those <20 Twitter is considered “lame”. Mostly because they “don't get it”.
“Facebook's recent changes to using the News Feed and Live Feed also does nothing to help its case for being an easy way to reach its users.” -Jackie
In fact this is to the contrary as Facebook pushes Page stories from large groups to the top of your “News Feed”. Forcing more eyeballs onto stories from Pages by defaulting to News Feed also helps. This is something I have noticed from managing multiple Facebook Fan Pages.
I love the info presented and I wanted to add to the conversation. I think authentic connections are what will benefit businesses using these services. Making one customer on Twitter will definitely be better for business in the long run than making one customer on Facebook.
Again Thanks for a great post.
I think you can trust MOST of the age data. I have been managing pages for more than a year and the age data is accurate for almost all people. Some people don't include Sex or Birthday on Facebook and stats will tell you that.
It will be interesting to see if most companies will use Facebook and Twitter to market to Gen Y or if they will actually use it as a primary source to both connect and adapt products by actively listening to what their users have to say.