People have been known to say that Facebook is a medium with which you can connect with people that you went to school with and Twitter is a medium with which you can connect with people you wished you had gone to school with. While Facebook is a multi-purpose social networking platform, allowing users to chat, post photos and notes, and play games, Twitter is built around the posting of short 140 character messages, or “tweets.” Currently facebook and twitter are two of the most popular social networks in the world. This essay compares and contrasts the history, growth in user base, strengths and weaknesses of the social media giants facebook and twitter.
Facebook was launched by Mark Zuckerberg, along with his college roommates, in February 2005. It was initially only intended for Harvard students, but eventually expanded to include students at other Boston colleges, Ivy League universities, and Stanford. The site gradually added support for other universities, before also becoming available to high school students. In September 2006, it became available to any users over 13. On May 17th 2012, the company went public. It was valued at $104 billion. Facebook’s user base is still growing rapidly. Facebook is used by members for a variety of purposes. It is mainly used by individuals who wish to stay connected with, or reconnect with, people that they know offline. As well as maintaining a personal profile and posting messages on their “wall,” users can upload photo albums and videos, share links, write long notes, send private messages to friends, text and video chat, and play games

Twitter was founded on March 21st 2006 by Jack Dorsey and was launched on July 5th 2006. Twitter tends to be fairly secretive about its number of users, but it had explosive growth between 2009 and 2011, with 2 million tweets a day in January 2009, 32 million tweets a day in January 2010, 90 million tweets a day in September 2010 and 200 million tweets a day in July 2011Twitter allows users to post 140 character messages, or tweets, and follow the messages of other users on their Twitter feed. It is mainly used to communicate with other individuals with similar interests, regardless of whether users know one another off Twitter, and to follow updates from celebrities. Users can upload photos, share links and send private messages to people they follow. Facebook allows users to select from various privacy settings, from a completely visible profile to one that is not even searchable except by acknowledged friends. Users can change the privacy setting on each individual post, from public, friends only, private, or “custom.” Facebook has been involved in several controversies, particularly involving privacy concerns. Facebook prevented users from permanently deleting their accounts until 2010 and has been criticized for changing user’s privacy settings, making more information publically visible or available to data mining, without their explicit consent. The site has been repeatedly criticized for removing photos uploaded by breastfeeding mothers and deleting their accounts.
Twitter has two privacy settings: public and private. Private messages can only be read by people that are followed by the user. Individual messages cannot have different privacy settings. The company Twitter has not been involved in any major controversies itself, but the site has been the focus of several legal cases recently. In July 2012, a British teenager was arrested after sending abusive tweets to Olympic diver Tom Daley, and earlier in 2012, a student was jailed for inciting racial hatred after tweeting abuse at Fabrice Muamba. CONCLUSION
Therefore the major differences as well as similarities between the two social media giants twitter and facebook have been summarized above. In conclusion this essay highlights first the history of twitter and facebook, it mentions the story of how eac of the platforms came to be. Later the uses of each we carefully cross examined. Both sites seem to have their own appeal and varied use. Next the privacy settings and controversies of both twitter and facebook. People post incredibly sensitive material online so it is extremely vital that social media sites have appropriate private settings. Both sites seems to have adequate but different measures in place for the same. Controversies haven’t had much affect on either of the sites average users. In conclusion facebook and twitter are both excellent ways of fast and efficient communication and having an account on one or both is
Bibliography
Facebook. (n.d.). Retrieved February 19, 2016, from Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/facebook

In conclusion, Facеbook and Twittеr arе both grеat social mеdia sitеs that arе both usеd by many diffеrеnt agе groups. I bеliеvе Facеbook is еasiеr to usе if you arе an oldеr pеrson that is somеwhat nеw to thе intеrnеt. Twittеr on thе othеr hand is morе of a placе for youngеr pеoplе, who find it еasy to usе and havе grown up with thе intеrnеt almost thеir еntirе livеs. It’s rеally up to thе usеr which thеy prеfеr. Most pеoplе that I know would choosе Facеbook ovеr Twittеr bеcausе wе tееnagеrs havе a lot to say most of thе timе. I bеliеvе that Twittеr just hasn’t rеachеd its pеak in thе social mеdia businеss quitе yеt. Thе bеst is yеt to comе. As I said bеforе, I don’t havе a prеfеrеncе