22 Apr 10 Facebook Or Twitter, Surfing Or TV?

I read this from Blog Maverick this morning:

A question for you. When was the last time you surfed the net ? Can you remember when you just clicked around looking to discover new sites or a site to occupy your time ? Now ask yourself when was the last time you sat on your couch or laid in bed clicking the remote looking for something to watch on TV.  Finally, how long do you regularly spend  on Facebook ?  How much time do you spend checking out your Wall, your friends’ Wall and hopping from profile to profile checking people out ?

Firstly, I know I’m not typical, or perhaps in the majority. I don’t care.

I still find myself surfing the net. First thing I do in the morning is read my emails, and my overnight Tweet DMs and @s. I regularly click on links that are potentially interesting,  and often click on other links, and end up 3 or 4 levels from where I started. Yes, that’s surfing, and I still do it.

I have to stop myself in the morning, or I’d not start work. I do it more in the evening for sure.

We come to TV. Well, I don’t have a TV. From time to time I’ll watch something online, but even when I had a TV, I never spent time looking for something to watch. My TV viewing habits have always been to switch on, watch the show I want, and turn it off again. As an adult, TV has never played more than a minuscule part in my life.

Now Facebook. I go in from time to time,  and my typical visit lasts 2-3 minutes, rarely longer. I scan down the front page, and cast my eye over what’s there. I’m very good at skim reading so that doesn’t take long at all. Sometimes, I’ll comment, or ‘like’; sometimes I’ll click on a link to take me to an external site to read an article.

I check those little red icons at the top of the Facebook page of course. Friend Requests, and notifications. That usually takes a minute or so, as it’s usually just a yes/no/ignore choice.

I almost never surf my friends walls, or hop from profile to profile. About the only time I look at a profile is when I am checking a new friend request, and of course,  you can’t usually see much until you accept them. I understand the privacy concerns here, but it’s also annoying. I can check out a person’s profile and their stream in Twitter before I decide to follow them. In Facebook, it’s often a case of someone who I know, and then I find all they do is play farm games or poker, and as I hide all that stuff, I don’t really hear from them again anyway!

Why don’t I use Facebook more? I find much less of interest there than I do in Twitter.  Also it’s a time issue.

I’ve already said I’m a good skim reader. I can do that so easily with Twitter, or Friendfeed. I can quickly click on links, and pull up web articles of interest.  I can fire off quick replies, and in the case of  Twitter, that 140 character limit can be helpful to a wordy verbose type like me, who talks and writes way too much, when I get on my soapbox!

In Facebook, I find it too slow to search for things that have already gone by.

Of course, everyone has their favorite services, and some people like to just hate on everything else. That’s not my way, but I don’t hesitate to champion the services I prefer over and above those I don’t!

I’ve never had a sheep mentality, and I refuse to follow the crowd, until I decide for myself that I want to go in the same direction.

For now, I’m sticking to Twitter, Friendfeed, and with a little Buzz thrown in.

Tags: adult tv, dms, facebook, first thing i do in the morning, front page, maverick, notifications, Tweet, when was the last time