Facebook/Twitter

I think that it is a mistake to attempt to compare Facebook and Twitter. On both sites, users become entangled in the development of an online image, however, this image is constructed very differently on the two sites.

The most obvious difference between the two images is that on Twitter, the user identity does not necessarily have to be tied into the real world identity of the user due to the option of anonymity. It is still important to note that this user identity is still an identity that a user must cultivate. Even without the assignment of a real world name, the username becomes a construct in itself. There is a self-consciousness with which even anonymous twitter users tweet. There is still a connection to this anonymous identity that is run by vanity. People do not want to be boring or to be considered a spam-like, feed-cluttering Follow, and hence, people cultivate their user identities to be interesting.

Although, many Facebook users similarly do not want to clutter their Friends Newsfeeds, it is expected of Facebook to be more personal. The identity that is cultivated by the user does not only include informative status updates, but also photos and a profile detailing interests. (Even the absence of filling out the profile section or of photos is a part of a Facebook identity.) The updates are thus a part of a larger image that is furthermore tied to a real world persona. This real world person is more interesting than the information they spit out. This person stands on its own as interesting. On Facebook, users are still motivated by vanity, but they exercise this vanity to create an overall image of themselves that includes much more than the occasional 140 character tweet.

Both Facebook and Twitter allow users to create online images of themselves; however, the Twitter image is a markedly different one than the Facebook one.