Archive for August, 2009

Crossing of Social Media Streams (with Egon Spengler’s prospective)

Friday, August 21st, 2009



Like a lot of people, I have my twitter account synced into my facebook page, so that whenever I update on twitter, my facebook page displays the same update. This has gotten me thinking about the purposes and audiences of facebook and twitter, and whether or not they are the mutual.

Twitter seems to have its own language.

Take this recent tweet:

@edscanlan RT @EJWalters: Great tweets from the streets of Afghanistan by @Katulis. Best election coverage (again) on Twitter. #afghanelection”

People viewing this as a facebook update only probably find the text strange. However, on twitter, the abbreviations used and the odd-looking link are common occurrences. Does this mean that the audience for twitter and facebook different? Or are they just using different language?

In terms of content, are there topics more appropriate for twitter, while other information is more appropriate for facebook? Which site is more useful for sharing links? Or, are they the same? Is one site considered more “professional” than the other?

On facebook, you have to add someone as a friend, and they have to accept your invitation for you to view their profile. Contrarily, twitter allows users to see each other’s updates without sending requests (unless privacy settings are changed by the user). What does this say about accessibility? Is it easier to network on twitter because of the difference in privacy standards?

From Wikipedia – Crossing the Streams
“There’s something very important I forgot to tell you. Don’t cross the streams… It would be bad… Try to imagine all life as you know it stopping instantaneously and every molecule in your body exploding at the speed of light.”
—Egon Spengler on crossing proton streams

Crossing the streams was initially discouraged, as Egon believed that “total protonic reversal” would occur: this effect would have catastrophic results (see quote above). However, in a desperate effort to stop the powerful Gozer the Gozerian, Egon noted that the door to Gozer’s temple “swings both ways” and that by crossing the streams, they may be able to create enough force to close the door on Gozer and its control. As Peter points out, Egon said crossing the streams was “bad” but Egon says “there is definitely a very slim chance we’ll survive.” As the Ghostbusters cross the streams, the combination of that much nuclear energy closes the door to Gozer’s dimension and severs its ties to our world. The resulting blast destroys a good portion of the roof and blows up the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man.

Should you cross social screams and have twitter feed your facebook profile?