Is Facebook Subscribe Replacing Twitter?
The biggest names in social media are Facebook and Twitter. Last year, the two were comfortably growing their user bases without much head-to-head competition due to the different nature of the services. Facebook has always been about connecting with friends and family, whereas Twitter has functioned more as a platform for shouting whatever is on your mind. This all changed last fall when Facebook launched its Subscribe feature, which seemed to be a strategic move that positioned Facebook and Twitter in direct battle. Subscribe, which was designed with celebrities, reporters, and other people in the media in mind, gave public figures an easier way to connect with their fans on Facebook. Like following on Twitter, Subscribe makes sharing non-reciprocal. If someone subscribes to you, you don’t have to subscribe back. Message Length and Network Popularity Key to Subscribe Success According to Facebook, journalists are embracing the Subscribe feature. One of the biggest reasons for this is probably due to Subscribe’s key difference. On Twitter, the maximum Tweet length is 140 characters, whereas Facebook’s limit is 63,206. Yes, 63,206. In nine posts, someone could publish an average length novel. On Facebook, it’s much easier to broadcast a message when you’re length is virtually not restricted. Another reason journalists are using Subscribe is because of its growth and popularity. The average journalist is seeing a dramatic increase in subscribers – around a 320% increase, in fact. Social discovery is largely aiding this increase. Facebook users are finding new people to Subscribe to through stories in their News Feeds. Additionally, Facebook has a recommendations engine, which looks at who you’re friends subscribe to and what your interests are, and then suggests other users for you to subscribe to. Twitter May Take a Hit When people are finding this much growth and attention on Facebook, it’s surely something for Twitter to worry about. Obviously, Twitter is very established, but with time Facebook’s Subscribe could grow just as large as its competitor. So, yes, for journalists and public figures, Facebook is gaining ground on Twitter as a means for immediate sharing with a large, growing reach. What Facebook really has going for it here is its massive number of users. Whereas Twitter has around 300 million users, many of which are bots, Facebook has over 800 million users and is on track to reach 1 billion users late 2012 summer. The user base may be the deciding factor to bring more journalists and celebrities over to using Facebook as their key form of outreach.
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