Ah, Progress! The New Facebook Allows You to Filter Out Those Annoying, Redundant Tweets
March 12th, 2009 by Tim Allik
The new Facebook design is up and my initial impression is positive. Facebook is taking Twitter head-on with the introduction of real-time updates, but Facebook continues to offer more powerful and convenient information-sharing capabilities than Twitter does. Most important from a personal standpoint, Facebook now allows me to filter out Tweets that some of my friends automatically route to Facebook via the Facebook Twitter application and other methods.
Why do I want to filter out Tweets from Facebook? 1) Because they are in nearly all cases redundant and 2) Twitter and Facebook are different mediums.
Being someone’s Facebook “friend” generally connotes a level of connectedness and intimacy that surpasses the average Twitter relationship. More personal data is usually exposed on Facebook and people are generally more discriminating when choosing to follow someone (or be followed) on Facebook. If I follow you on Facebook, it’s almost certain that I also follow you on Twitter. But the opposite isn’t true.
If you and I are connected on Facebook, in all likelihood I’ve already seen your Tweets on Twitter. When you post them again on Facebook you become a member of the Department of Redundancy Department.
The message should fit the medium. Television broadcasters don’t merely read the newspaper in front of a video camera because television and print each offer their own separate and unique opportunities of expression. Likewise, Twitter and Facebook have their own distinctive attributes. To take advantage of these differences and out of respect for your readers, the content should be tailored for each.
Now, thanks to the new Facebook redesign, I can filter out Tweets that also appear on Facebook — so I’ll see them in just one place instead of two. If you’re one of those people who’s broadcasting the same content across both websites, then the few folks on Facebook who don’t also follow you on Twitter will continue to be able to receive your Tweets via Facebook, my Facebook page won’t be clogged with your redundant Tweets, and we can all still be friends!
Thank God for progress! Nice job, Facebook!
This entry was posted on Thursday, March 12th, 2009 at 4:40 pm and is filed under Social Media, Social Networks, Web. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
March 30th, 2009 at 6:00 pm
I’m excited to hear this; I’ve thought for a while that Twitter updates really have no place in Facebook, for the most part.
Can you tell us how to filter these Tweets out? Or are you just referring to hiding the status updates of those particular people?
Thanks!