Facebook vs Twitter: the battle over #DemDebate coverage
There is no arguing the point: Facebook is an absolute juggernaut. While the company continues to seek worldwide dominance the Facebook “News Feed” has become much more than just a place to read about Aunt Laverne’s new hairdo; for many it’s become the destination for content consumption.
Meanwhile, kid brother Twitter is mounting a comeback. The company temporarily replaced CEO Dick Costolo with company founder Jack Dorsey, announced several new invigorating projects including Project Lightning which they launched last week as “Moments“, named Dorsey as permanent CEO, announced their restructuring, and now seem headed in the right direction.
The sheer mass of Facebook and Twitter, coupled with their slant towards user generated content, make them dominant media players when breaking news occurs. Donald Trump may not have a podium in Democratic debates, but he continues to shape the national dialogue, and tonight is no different. The battle is on, and not only between Democratic candidates… Facebook and Twitter are fighting for your attention, too.
Visit Facebook and you’re likely to see a prompt in the search bar that suggests #DemDebate as a good search term to try. Give it a whirl and you’ll see plenty of trending content to help you follow the topic.
It’s no coincidence that Twitter’s new “Moments” tab does almost exactly the same thing, curating content from Official accounts and piping them into specific Events/Topics.
Notice that Facebook highlights posts directly from Donald Trump’s account and Hillary Clinton’s account? Yeah… it’s no coincidence that Facebook and Twitter are doing the exact same thing.
In that regard, Twitter may have an edge: notice how the dialogue on Twitter is actually BETWEEN the two candidates rather than isolated incidents pasted together?
And thus is the beauty of Twitter.
In many ways the reality is that mobile tech companies have reshaped the way we get our news. The vast majority of traffic on both Facebook and Twitter is mobile and their apps for Android and Facebook (not even including Instagram, Vine, etc…) are among the most popular in the world.
We want to hear from you… how will YOU be following the #DemDebate?
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Facebook and Twitter are trying to create active experiences that engage their users, but I think the thing that shocks me most about content consumption these days is that in many ways, people don’t follow the news… the news follows you. How do you feel about quote? Let us know in the comments!
“People don’t follow the news any more… the news follows them”