Ultimately, the success  of Facebook – and their growing friendliness with businesses, I think will boil down to a game of numbers. If Facebook keeps its current pace of signing up new people of varying ages (over 400 million users already), it will become an increasingly better medium to market a business. Not to mention, Payvment is gaining momentum.

On the other hand, Twitter caters to the tech savvy not your casual (or older) computer user – which FB is going after. This will need to change if they want to compete with Facebook in attracting marketing spend.

Here are some points to consider about the two mediums:

• Twitter is more of a communication platform, while Facebook is more of an online destination/community.
• Facebook is also more personal, Twitter is somewhat impersonal.
• On Twitter, anyone can follow you.
• Women love Facebook
• Older men tend to avoid it until they finally cave in
• Many people still look at Twitter and say, ‘I don’t want to hear about when someone brushes their teeth, I just don’t get it’.
• On Facebook, by default, they cannot be your friend, unless you give them permission to.
• For a Facebook Fan Page though, anyone can become a fan (or ‘like’ a page as it is now called).

There is certainly cross-over & similarities between the two, but for businesses this realm does represent significant potential. Only in the last 6 months have I really felt this as Facebook has opened the door wider to businesses.

On the web & technology front, Twitter tends to attract the tech savvy type and therefore can easily continue its momentum in this regard. Something tells me that Twitter will eventually be purchase – but by whom (don’t say Google) ? And how would they integrate it (would Google nix Buz if they did purchase it)

But I also think it boils down to the ‘type’ of business. For example, here is a very random sample of business/brand entities and what they might see with these mediums.

• Clothing company:
  Facebook is completely relevant, Twitter is less effective based on what we are seeing.
• Coffee shop (ie. Starbucks)
  Twitter is very relevant as customers tend to be tech savvy and ‘on the go’ but Starbucks has nearly 7 million fans on FB compared to under 800k followers on Twitter. Wow!
• Golf Course:
  Facebook is more relevant, Twitter is not very effective from what we are seeing.
• Marketing company:
  Twitter more relevant, Facebook not as relevant (yet)
• Company/Retail:
  Facebook will become increasingly a better medium for all retail business now that Facebook is integrating e-commerce.
• Food Chain:
  Facebook becoming more relevant than Twitter
• Celebrity or Athlete:
  Twitter is an amazing platform for these folks (who are already popular) to enlarge their following. A perfect medium for stars and athletes on Twitter. It keeps people (followers) at a distance, and allows them more 1 way communication without too much interaction if they don’t want it.
• Renewable Energy Company:
  They could rock both spheres but I think FB could generate a lot of momentum for these types of companies.
• Gym (Fitness)
  No brainer. Facebook. They can create a sense of community online and get their members to talk to each other outside the gym *Creating an Online Community* – which is the highest achievement of any web presence.

The way I see it, Facebook may not seem very inviting right now to many businesses, I think that is changing very quickly. They will be a juggernaut for businesses looking to tap into Social Media.

What about your business?