TC: “While Twitter and Facebook prompt users with eerily similar questions – Twitter asks ‘What are you doing?’ and Facebook asks ‘What are you doing right now?’ – their users don’t answer in the same way. By and large, Facebook users answer the question more faithfully than Twitter users. – Meanwhile, Twitter users have (by and large) decided to ignore the questioned posed for them. Instead of using the service to post real status updates – i.e. descriptions of what they’re currently doing – they use it as a public broadcasting system of sorts. It’s an efficient way for them to send out thought trinkets to an often ambiguous crowd of friends and strangers. And with @replies, Twitter morphs into a conversational medium, a big cocktail party where everybody is constantly eavesdropping on everybody else’s impromptu conversations. … The overlap is rather small, and it’s this smallness that undermines any attempt (real or imaginary) on Facebook’s part to steal Twitter’s thunder. Something behavioral about Facebook’s users would have to change, and it’s unlikely that these users – who are largely mainstream – are inclined to pick up the tweeting habits of a crowd that consists mostly of early adopters.”

Winer: “Immediately I felt drawn to know more about how Facebook works, for the first time. I’ve been happy writting Twitter apps and FriendFeed apps. But a lot more people use Facebook, and as we know and have said many times, the important thing is where the people are. – The best post I’ve read so far on the politics between Twitter and Facebook was written by Marc Canter. I laughed out loud a few times while reading it, it’s that good. I don’t think they’re laughing about it at Twitter headquarters. … I called Marc to congratulate him on his piece, and asked about the meeting at Facebook next week about OpenID, and he said something I was afraid of – it’s invite-only. Which means they’re screwing around, both Facebook and especially the OpenID people.”