Came hame háááá! By R'eyes
Some days ago, I’ve stepped over what I feel might be the biggest barrier Facebook/Google+ will have to jump in the near future. But before we get into that let me explain what I feel is the usability calling of Twitter and that of Facebook/Google+.
Facebook/Google+ true calling
What most of us users of this social networks have been found doing of late is using these platforms as communication hubs. No need to remember the email or the phone number of your friend’s second cousin pal at work. You want to keep in touch with her? Easy: you’ve just to remember her name (you do get her name didn’t you?). Glimpses of such realization by the social networks themselves can be seen in the latest news: Facebook brings Skype as their squire (fear Ser Telco they are coming for you. For an interesting insight upon this battle jump boat to Patricia´s post) and Google+ lets you create a virtual water cooler.
Twitter’s motif
The lovable birdie also heard the call and started as an asynchronous text based communication tool (as opposed to a synchronous one such as MSN Live), but due to simplicity constraints (if you want to gather more on why constraints sometimes boost creativity follow this link Alice) their platform will be used more as an intermediary than as a communication hub. Let me get this knot fixed. What I mean is Twitter is inhabiting a space long left empty by Google: social search. Just as Ebay helps buyers find sellers, and vice versa, Twitter helps followers read very short messages posted by the people they think are interesting and easily decide to jump into the conversation or follow the link recommended on the twit.
Signal vs Noise
This last is what I think Facebook/Google+ haven’t harnessed yet. Their informational hub (FB’s wall and Google+’s stream) have few constraints* whatsoever regarding message limit thus amplifying channel noise and hampering scanning and fast decisions, where Twitter’s constraint obliges the poster to really think an interesting message to gather attention, more like a Daily’s headline.
*
Facebook: limits a wall comment to 420 characters, if it is longer it asks you to make a Note. Twitter constraint forces you to first think the “note” and then the bait.
Google+: has no text limit whatsoever, it just “cuts” the posts short on the stream, thus not even letting posters think of a draw and therefor increasing channel noise.
No need to remember the email or the phone number of your friend’s second cousin pal at work. You want to keep in touch with her.
Thanks for sharing.