First of all, I just want to make it clear that I adore both of these two innovative social media properties. Even though, I’ve noticed that the past year was all about the Twitter. Actually, it’s quite crazy how much coverage it has received from social media citizens compare to its “big brother”. Therefore, just to make it fare I’ll try to identify 5 main reasons which makes Facebook superior social media platform over the Twitter.

The 5 Reasons:

Size. Does the size matter? Well it does in Social Media or in fact in any media. In terms of the audience and reach there is quite a big difference between Facebook’s 400 millions and Twitter’s 75 millions users. Moreover with the Twitter’s growth slowing down up to just 3.5 % a month it’s seems its going to be very difficult to catch up with the social networking behemoth. Read the full story

As you may have already heard Twitter has started its own Promoted Tweets program a few days ago. I was just following the discussion and reading all the news about it and decided to share this collection of posts which pretty much tells everything you need to know about this developement.

Hello World by Official Twitter blog

Why You Should Advertise on Twitter by Adage.com

Twitter bets its ad platform — and reputation — on "resonance" by New York Times

Promoted Tweets: What Brands Can And Can’t Do With Twitter’s New Ad Platform by Forrester

Twitter COO: “Promoted Tweets Are Not Ads” 

Twitter Announces an Ad program…here is how to rank organically by The Customer Collective

Twitter Sponsored Tweets: The Impact for Marketers by Steve Rubel

Twitter launches Ads, New Business Model by Going Social Now

Jim Kukral is a serial web-entrepreneur, professional speaker and consultant,  who at the moment spends most of his time helping entrepreneurs and small business owners learn how to find success online. For over 15-years, Jim has advised small businesses and large companies like Fedex, Sherwin Williams, Ernst & Young and is credited with building some of the first major Fortune 500 websites and blogs in America. Jim is the author of  “Attention! This Book Will Make You Money” and “The Ultimate Pitch”  and has been featured in Top online and offline print publications such as Forbes, Brandweek, Entrepreneur, The Wall Street Journal, New York Times, BusinessWeek, Inc …to name just a few.You can follow Jim on Twitter, Facebook  or Linkedin.

G: How and why did you get into social media?

J: Like everyone else I saw it as a way to communicate more easily with my friends, and later on, potential customers.

G: What is it like to be a real Social Media Citizen?

J: I monitor Twitter and Facebook and Linkedin all day. It’s always there, but not a huge part of my day. I find it a distraction actually and I’ve been trying to spend less time worrying about it. When I do, I get more real work done.

Read the full story

Jeffrey I. Cole, the Annenberg School’s director of the Center for the Digital Future, explains,

“Consumers really want free content without advertising, but ultimately they understand that content has to be paid for one way or another.” However, Cole continues, “Such an extreme finding that produced a zero response underscores the difficulty of getting Internet users to pay for anything that they already receive for free.”

This is unsettling news for social app startups that rely on subscription fees to generate revenue.

Additionally, the study reveals, 70% of respondents feel online advertising is “annoying”. 50% never click on online ads. Yet, 55% would rather put up with display advertising than pay fees to access the content they want, minus the ads. Online news and paywalls requiring paid subscriptions to access premium news and articles are faring no better. Both Newsday and The Times have seen dramatic decreases in traffic after implementing the paid subscription models. When consumers can find the same news elsewhere for free, it’s tough to justify paying for the content.

So how does this explain the popularity of pay sites like Flickr and Vimeo?

These sites offer “split freemium” models, meaning fans can pay to gain access to premium features or gain greater on-site storage. These varying levels of site access weren’t free to begin with, so consumers don’t feel cheated when it comes to parting with their subscription fees.
Ecommerce sites are not affected by these findings. 65% of adult Americans have so far purchased, on average, 35 items online in 2010, from electronics and books to clothing and travel.

Would you pay to access Twitter or Facebook? Are you willing to pay for upgraded memberships on sites like Flickr or LinkedIn?