Facebook is personal, Twitter is political: Delacourt

Social media sites, particularly Facebook and Twitter, have been labeled “the confirmed water cooler of the modern era” in a report on how Canadians share information.

It’s been a busy two weeks around that water cooler, first with the horrific shootings in Ottawa and then with the stunning fall from grace of CBC celebrity Jian Ghomeshi.

These were two very different events. The only common thread was the massive conversations they generated online. But the differences in how they landed at the cyberspace water cooler may serve as a future guide on when to use Facebook and when to use Twitter.

Everybody has their favourite ways of breaking journalism into categories —tabloid vs. broadsheet, broadcast vs. print, sensational vs. thoughtful and so on.

Here’s mine: there is journalism that takes grey situations and turns them into black and white; and there’s journalism that takes black-and-white stories and shows us where things are grey.

Back when CBC’s nightly newscast was divided into The National and The Journal — news items, followed by longer-form documentaries — it seemed we had a taste of both styles of journalism each night.

It’s occurred to me over the past two weeks that we’re now seeing that distinction again, in online form: Twitter as the best place for black-and-white views of the world; Facebook for the more nuanced, grey-area discussions.

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When the shooting broke out Oct. 22 at the National War Memorial and then the very halls of Parliament, people rushed to Twitter for black-and-white clarity. They wouldn’t get that clarity for many hours, but it was simple, declarative information that people were seeking: How many shooters? Who’s the bad guy? Who are the heroes? Who’s hurt? Who’s safe?

Compare this to last Sunday, when the terse news was issued that CBC had terminated its relationship with Ghomeshi.

Again, people rushed to Twitter, seeking a simple, good-vs.-bad narrative, but there was none to be found (unless you count the knee-jerk conspiracy theories about how the former CBC host had fallen afoul of the Conservative government. Yes, people did suggest this within minutes of hearing the news — another sign of the times, perhaps.)

Within hours, Ghomeshi used Facebook, not Twitter, in a bid to make a black-and-white situation grey. He wrote at great length — not an option in the 140-character universe of Twitter — about how he was being punished for his sexual preferences, admittedly not to all tastes.

In the immediate aftermath of this revelation, many people wanted to have a nuanced conversation. How could such a good broadcaster be such a bad person? How could a gentle, sensitive public persona be so at odds with nasty reports of his private life? When does one’s dating life collide with one’s job?

The Twitter crowd, however, had little tolerance for such grey-area discussions. To praise the show, or Ghomeshi’s broadcasting skills, was tantamount to hatred of women. People were mocked for saying they wanted to know all the facts before rushing to judgment.

The newest report on how Canadians share information, titled “Matters of Opinion,” was released this week by Abacus Data, a polling firm, and FullDuplex.ca, a data-analysis company. Among its findings, the report showed that “engaged” Canadians — those paying attention to the news — are active users of Twitter and Facebook.

In every respect except one, people reported using Facebook and Twitter for the same reasons: to voice their opinions, to share interesting content, etc. While 79 per cent of respondents said they used Twitter to “endorse content,” only 32 per cent said they would use Facebook for that reason.

People are also using Facebook and Twitter to reach different audiences, the report found. More than 80 per cent of Canadians use Facebook primarily to reach family and friends, according to this survey. Only 30 per cent of Twitter users said family and friends were their target audience; nearly 60 per cent said they were reaching out to “acquaintances” or online interest groups.

So maybe that’s another distinction: Facebook is personal, Twitter is political.

In those terms, the social media conversations around these two big events in Canada make sense.

The highly charged, political nature of the Ottawa shootings meant that Canadians needed to rush to Twitter. The Ghomeshi saga, meanwhile, migrated from Facebook to Twitter over the week, as more women came forward with damning revelations and when the personal became the political.

This, then, is what we have learned at the modern water cooler over these past, tumultuous weeks. Twitter and Facebook are not competitors, but complements to each other. If you’re looking for the personal and the nuanced, head to Facebook. If it’s short, political and opinionated content you’re seeking, head to Twitter.