Social media has become an integral part of our lives. Among the many social media platforms that exist, two stand out as the most popular and widely used – Facebook and Twitter. Though they are both social networking sites that allow users to share updates, photos, videos, and more, Facebook has significantly more users and engagement than Twitter.
User Base
One of the main reasons why Twitter is not as popular as Facebook is the vast difference in their user base. Facebook has over 2.8 billion monthly active users as of Q3 2022, making it by far the biggest social network worldwide. Twitter on the other hand has approximately 237 million monetizable daily active users as of Q2 2022. So Facebook’s user base is more than 10 times larger than Twitter’s.
The much smaller user base limits Twitter’s reach and makes it less attractive to advertisers compared to Facebook. The bigger network effects of Facebook also make it more compelling for new users to join. People are more likely to join a platform where they can connect with all their friends and family.
Engagement
In addition to a smaller user base, Twitter also sees less overall engagement than Facebook. Engagement refers to metrics like likes, comments, shares, retweets etc.
According to Trackalytics, Facebook posts see a Like rate of 4.41%, a Comment rate of 0.37%, and a Share rate of 0.09%. Comparatively, Twitter posts only see a Favorite rate of 0.33%, a Retweet rate of 0.049% and a Reply rate of 0.015%.
So Facebook posts tend to get much more engagement in terms of reactions, comments and shares compared to Twitter. This higher level of activity contributes to Facebook’s popularity. More engagement also means more viral posts that spread further and faster on Facebook compared to Twitter.
Demographic Differences
There are also some key demographic differences between Facebook and Twitter users that contribute to varying popularity levels.
Based on US user data from Statista, the largest age group on Facebook is the 25-34 bracket which makes up 29.4% of users. For Twitter, the biggest age group is the 35-49 bracket which is 24.8% of users. So Twitter tends to skew slightly older than Facebook.
When looking at income levels, 46% of adult Twitter users in the US earn $75,000 or more per year. On Facebook that number is lower at 39%. So Twitter users tend to have a higher income compared to the average Facebook user.
Gender representation is relatively similar on both platforms with a higher percentage of female than male users. But Twitter does have a higher share of male users compared to Facebook (65% of Twitter users are female vs 76% of Facebook users).
These demographic differences result in varying interests, needs and usage habits on the two platforms.
Purpose and Use Cases
Facebook and Twitter were created to serve different purposes and have evolved to have distinct use cases. This results in differing popularity levels.
Facebook was designed as a social networking platform for friends and family to stay connected. So it’s mainly used for personal sharing and communication.
Whereas Twitter functions more as a news, entertainment and discussion platform. It’s used to follow topics of interest, keep up with current events, share opinions, and engage in public conversations. The 140/280 character limit promotes brevity and conciseness.
So while Facebook is a go-to place for personal life updates, Twitter is better suited for up-to-the-minute news and public commentary. These differing use cases attract different audiences and levels of usage.
Facebook Offers More Features
Facebook also appeals to more users by offering far more features and options than Twitter. Some of Facebook’s many features include:
– Photo/video sharing – upload albums, slidesow movies etc
– Stories – post ephemeral photos and videos
– Live video streaming
– Groups – join interest-based communities
– Events – create and manage public events
– Games, quizzes and instant games
– Marketplace – buy and sell locally
– Fundraisers – raise money for causes
– Jobs board
– Dating service
– Weather updates
– Saved posts
– Memories/looking back at past posts
Whereas Twitter’s features remain much more limited. Outside of tweeting, Twitter mainly just offers options like Direct Messages, Moments for curated content, Lists to organize accounts, and Bookmarks to save tweets.
The much wider range of features gives people more ways to interact on Facebook beyond just sharing plain text updates. This contributes to Facebook’s higher engagement and popularity.
Easier to Use and Understand
For new users, Facebook is generally considered easier to use and understand compared to Twitter. Facebook has a clean and intuitive interface that helps orient new users. Options are clearly laid out in menus and settings are easy to navigate.
Twitter’s unique concepts like the feed, tweets, retweets, @mentions and hashtags can be confusing initially. The interface also tends to be busier and less organized. Things like the Discover tab highlight topics and accounts you may not actually follow. These aspects of Twitter can present more of a learning curve.
Facebook also benefits from being around longer. It was founded in 2004 while Twitter only started in 2006. So Facebook has had more time to streamline its platform and reach critical mass in terms of adoption.
More Advertiser Friendly
Facebook provides a much more advertiser friendly platform compared to Twitter.
Some key advantages Facebook offers advertisers:
- Highly targeted ads based on detailed user data like location, age, interests, behaviors
- Range of ad formats – photo, video, carousel, Stories, boosting posts
- Powerful ad analytics with metrics like clicks, conversions, cost per result
- Higher click-through rates on ads – Facebook ads see 0.90% vs Twitter’s 0.78%
- Better conversion tracking with Facebook pixel and custom conversions
- Retargeting options to remarket to site visitors
- Products like Facebook Shops simplify ecommerce
- Dynamic creative optimization to automatically improve ad performance
Twitter does not provide the same capabilities for sophisticated advertising and optimization. And Facebook’s massive user base offers greater reach potential.
So brands invest advertising dollars more heavily into Facebook which enhances the platform’s revenue and resources. Facebook generated over $115 billion in ad revenue in 2021 versus less than $5 billion on Twitter.
More Trusted and Reliable
While both platforms deal with misinformation and fake accounts, Facebook has implemented more safeguards and controls compared to Twitter.
Facebook employs third party fact checkers who can flag false stories. Questionable posts will show related fact checks and get reduced distribution. Pages and profiles that repeatedly share misinformation may be banned.
Facebook also verifies official accounts of public figures, media companies and organizations with blue checkmarks. This helps confirm legitimacy.
On Twitter, false or misleading claims are much more likely to quickly go viral with limited checks. Verified accounts are also less common on Twitter.
So the general public is more cautious and skeptical of news and information shared on Twitter. They view Facebook as slightly more trusted and reliable.
Conclusion
While Twitter offers a valuable platform for certain uses, Facebook clearly has broader appeal and has emerged as the dominant social media network. Facebook’s massive user base, higher engagement rates, wide range of features, accessible interface, lucrative ad platform, and increased credibility give it key advantages over Twitter.
Unless Twitter can significantly expand its users, deepen engagement, and roll out new features, it will likely continue to lag far behind the popularity of Facebook. The two networks seem to complement rather than compete with each other. But Facebook has clearly struck a chord with people worldwide and established itself as the social media leader for the foreseeable future.