Facebook vs. Twitter: A highly scientific experiment

  • Posted: March 10, 2010  Topics: Internet

I've gone back and forth a hundred times on whether Facebook or Twitter is the more useful social network. By useful, I mean suppose you have a question and want to pose it to your friends (Facebook) or followers (Twitter). Which network will give you a higher number of responses?

I decided to find out by conducting a highly scientific experiment. And by highly scientific I mean I thought of the idea in the shower and spent 15 seconds implementing it.

Here's what I did. I posed the same exact question on Facebook and Twitter and then monitored the responses I received back from each.

The question I asked was extremely relevant in today's technological society: What is your favorite breakfast cereal?

And the winner is...

On Facebook I received 8 responses in the span of just under 24 hours. On Twitter I received 5 responses in the span of about 1 hour and 15 minutes.

So it appears that Facebook is the clear cut winner. Unless I calculate that Facebook only generated an average of 1 response every 3 hours where Twitter generated an average of 1 response every 15 minutes. Now that I think about it, Twitter is the clear cut winner. Wait, but it's easier to view the responses in Facebook because they are tied to my original post and not scattered in a public timeline. So sorry, Facebook must be the clear cut...

Ugh, I guess it's back to the drawing board again.

Lucky Charms anyone?

Well, at least I know what kind of breakfast cereal my friends like. Here's the list if you are interested:

  • TRIX!!

  • Granola.

  • Mmmm, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, or Peanut Butter Captain Crunch

  • Post's Frosted Shredded Wheat

  • Lucky Charms:)

  • Cookie Crisp

  • Cap'n crunch Crunchberry and Golden Grahams

  • special k chocolatey delight

  • Lucky Charms

  • the greatest cereal of all time is of course Captain Crunch Berries. They came with the best toys like a yellow submarine.

  • Kellogs

  • Anything Kashi. My wife hates it when I eat it. I'll leave the reason as an exercise for the reader.

  • Frosted Mini Wheats or Raisin Bran.

3 comments for this blog post so far...

  • #1
    March 16, 2010 at 7:48 am

    Suz

    Of course, you must have asked the question while I was unconscious or something, as I never saw it in my feed.  And I’m on both FB & twitter.

  • #2
    March 17, 2010 at 8:49 am

    Patric Welch

    @Suz - So what is your favorite breakfast cereal? :)

  • #3
    March 17, 2010 at 12:20 pm

    Suz

    @Patric
    Fiber One Honey Clusters - crunchy, tasty, and loaded with fiber (but I’ve never noticed any aftereffects)(other than a higher iron count when I donate blood)

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