Catherine Dwyer, PhD.

Dept. of Information Technology

Seidenberg Summer Scholars

July 14, 2010
 Facebook
 Twitter

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 Social network service
 Launched: 2004
 Founders: Mark Zuckerberg, Eduardo Saverin,
Dustin Moskovitz, Chris Hughes
 Status: private
 2008 est. revenue: 300 million US$
 Members: ~400 million
 Sources of income: Banner ads, referral
marketing, Casual games
 No. Employees: 1000+ in California, Ireland,
and South Korea

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 mobile social network service, microblogging
 Launched: 2006
 Founders: Jack Dorsey, Evan Williams, Biz
Stone
 Status: private
 2009 est. revenue: $400,000 Q3
 Members: ~75 million
 Sources of income: currently no ads (starting
soon), some income from mobile market,
selling data
 No. employees: 141

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 Median age Facebook: 38.4
 Median age Twitter: 39.1

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 Top news stories about Facebook

Canada Privacy Comm. Forces

Facebook to Make Privacy Changes
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 Top news stories for Twitter

Twitter and Iran Twitter and Haitian Earthquake

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 Needing cash, took $200 M investment from
Russian media company, Digital Sky
Technologies (May 2009)
 World’s largest server of digital photos, runs
into performance issues when loading
newsfeed (.5 sec, load ~ thousand entries)
 Changed default status of profile updates to
“public” and searchable via Google
 This makes FB more like Twitter, however it
attracted inquiry by the FTC

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 Facebook is considered more “private” than
Twitter, yet Facebook has many more privacy
problems than Twitter
 Both have users that “tend” to use their real
name
 Facebook began as a “walled garden,”
meaning you had to climb over the wall to
share, and what you shared stayed in the
garden
 Twitter has always made tweets public, and
this clarity makes managing Twitter simpler

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 Why use Facebook?
 Connect to friends and family, create digital
identity, share digital content
 Why use Twitter?
 Build connections by interest
 Develop reputation based on your posts
within specific domains

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 Most public companies recognize they need a
presence on both Facebook and Twitter
 This has made it easier for backlashes and
negative publicity related to lead to angry
posts/tweets
 Example: H&M Slashes Discarded Clothes
Rather Than Donate Them
◦ Rises to #2 on Twitter trending topics
◦ Customers post angry messages on H&M's
Facebook page

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 Mobile and Mobile Apps
 Video
 Ability to take “real time” assessment of news
and events
 Will blend more with news, because news has
always been social (people want to talk about
what’s new)

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 Cathy Dwyer
cdwyer@pace.edu
Twitter: ProfCDwyer

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