How to use X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook differently to get better information

There are various SNS in the world, and this time, I'd like to consider how to differentiate between Facebook and X (formerly Twitter) for text-based information gathering. Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok are video and image-based, so they are not included this time. Besides, they are very biased as a medium for obtaining information.

Therefore, both those who currently only use Facebook and those who only use X (formerly Twitter) should grasp the benefits and characteristics of both, and try to use them differently. I believe you will be able to obtain even higher quality and better information than now.

About the features of X (formerly Twitter)

Many people are probably familiar with the overview of X (formerly Twitter); first, there's a timeline where you can post 140-character tweets. By commenting on or sharing those posts, you can spread, obtain, and transmit information. By following accounts you like, you can always check their tweets through your timeline. With this as an overview, the features of X (formerly Twitter) can be summarized as follows.

• Information is always the latest and fast
• Information dissemination power is overwhelmingly strong
• Both good and malicious information are spread
• The amount of information, good or bad, is enormous, so selection is necessary
• Account influence is easily conveyed and people are easily swayed
• A high level of information sensitivity and knowledge to judge necessity is required
• Overall, it has a high difficulty as an information gathering tool
• Often functions as a communication tool
• It is necessary to correctly convey and receive information within 120 characters
• Because of its strong dissemination power, it becomes a weapon for the weak to gather empathy and confront power
• Conversely, if incorrect information spreads due to that dissemination power, it becomes bullying by society against one person

It has these characteristics, and personally, I consider it a 'high-difficulty SNS as an information gathering tool'. Since it's structured so that good information, malicious information, and even quite useless information (if you think about it carefully) all flow in at once, it's necessary to have a certain amount of knowledge to discern information, and also the ability to think for yourself and discern, without blindly believing the words of influential people or media.

For those who are prone to immediately believing news and may not have the knowledge to discern it, using X (formerly Twitter) could actually have a significant negative impact on their lives. This is because you might be swayed by information and led in a direction that is not the one you should be taking.

Conversely, those who can doubt all information and view it from multiple perspectives will be able to use it freely. It is suitable for people with high information sensitivity, sufficient knowledge to discern information, who are not swayed by a single piece of information, and who can properly determine whether information from multiple sources is truly necessary for them, and whether it was disseminated based on correct judgment criteria, and then absorb it.

For example, many accounts talk about 'this is a good way to learn!' when it comes to programming, but the approaches vary widely, and it's difficult to determine which one is right for you. It would be good if you could calmly discern it from multiple perspectives, but those who think 'An important person said it! I'll believe it blindly!' might end up choosing a study method that doesn't suit them.

There's also a 120-character limit, so while content can be easily misunderstood, that's precisely why there's the advantage of being able to post and disseminate quickly. The content of posts is basically understood as 'tweets', and correctly conveying and receiving accurate information is quite difficult. If you don't comment or share after thoroughly thinking and understanding, you might be labeled as 'someone who can't read Japanese' for having actually received information with a completely mistaken understanding of the content. lol

Furthermore, people with strong decision-making skills can choose what to gain from diverse information, make decisions, and move forward. However, those without strong decision-making skills are often overwhelmed by too much information, become unable to discern what to choose, and frequently find themselves unable to take even a single step. It's like just talking about ideals and letting time pass.

It also has a strong aspect as a communication tool, so you often see places where opinions are picked up and commented on. Especially for influencers and corporate accounts, it often becomes a place to create communication with users. It's a one-to-many communication tool. Moreover, the sense of closeness makes it quite easy to use for business.

SNS can be difficult to handle information on, but once you master it, you can get raw, unembellished information, methodologies, techniques, and thoughts all at once. If you use it thoughtfully, it's an SNS where you can also develop your critical thinking skills. Precisely because you can get truly raw information, you need the judgment and thought to discern what is right for you.

If you can gain empathy, it spreads rapidly, so for unreasonable things like sexual harassment or power harassment, many people often side with you. It can also be a weapon to stand up to authority. However, conversely, if bad empathy or empathy for incorrect information gathers, it can turn into a grand bullying involving society. It is truly a double-edged sword.

Even if a sender has influence, if they hold ideologies that are actually harmful to society, people with lower information literacy can be quickly swayed. Many influencers fall into this category. Be careful. That's why it's easy to use for marketing, but conversely, there are also dangers.

For now, I've talked about the features of X (formerly Twitter), and that's about it. Next, let's look at Facebook.

About Facebook's Features

Facebook allows for long posts, has less diffusion power than X (formerly Twitter), and is an SNS that prioritizes posts from real friends and acquaintances. How does it prioritize real connections? The information displayed on the timeline is selected by artificial intelligence to emphasize real connections. Personal posts are prioritized over information from corporate accounts, and the system highly judges whether the information is correct and necessary for that person before displaying it. Therefore, it can be said that highly relevant information is prioritized even if the user themselves doesn't have the ability to judge information.

Furthermore, the displayed information is constantly customized by your actions, so the information shown changes based on your behavior, increasing its usefulness. Although I wrote that it prioritizes personal connections, depending on your actions, useful information from companies and media can be delivered with the highest priority.

Originally, it was an SNS with very strong diffusion power, like X (formerly Twitter), but due to the widespread dissemination of fake (false) information during presidential elections and other issues, it became a more closed SNS. Additionally, due to concerns raised about using personal information for advertising and business, and the risks of leaks, security for personal information has been significantly strengthened. Despite this, Facebook generally has the following features:

• A closed, intimate SNS if you do nothing and prioritize direct acquaintances
• If you actively get information from Facebook Pages, you can obtain appropriate information
• Artificial intelligence gradually selects and displays information suitable for the user
• Posts from people with low relevance are rarely displayed
• If you actively seek out the information you want, high-quality information will gather
• It doesn't have much diffusion power (even if you share, it won't appear on others' timelines)
• Strict on personal information and strong security
• It's better to think that marketing relies on 'advertising'
• Information from corporate accounts is either advertising or something you search for yourself
• Promotional information has low display priority on personal timelines

This is probably it. The main point is that the timeline's artificial intelligence is quite excellent, and it will really focus on and display information you prefer. For example, as I mentioned earlier, even though personal connections are prioritized, if users prefer to share posts from companies and media, related information will always be displayed. For categories of information you actively seek out, the priority will be highest.

I personally mainly follow media that distributes IT and startup information. And if I find information I'm interested in, I always share it as a bookmark, and by continuing to share, my timeline became filled with truly useful information and posts for me. Thanks to this, I never miss out on information or trends, from cutting-edge technology to culture.

Moreover, the quality of the media is good, and the articles distributed are all high quality, so compared to X (formerly Twitter), overwhelmingly useful information for me has gathered. Therefore, I actually collect my information on Facebook, not X (formerly Twitter). If I look at my Facebook timeline, information from startups to IT that I should be aware of is delivered, so that's enough for my information gathering. They are also putting a lot of effort into fake news countermeasures, so highly credible and socially useful information is provided even without asking.

I believe this is a big difference from X (formerly Twitter); in the case of Facebook, wonderful and useful information comes in automatically, and there's almost no need to think about selecting information. Artificial intelligence displays content that suits you and is useful.

However, of course, you first need to search for media and corporate accounts yourself and 'like' them. Without your own actions, it will only be information from your inner circle, so unless your inner circle has a high information sensitivity, it will be a boring timeline. Also, because the age group is older, if you do nothing, you might only see information that is several years behind the cutting edge.

On the other hand, since it's mainly media information, its immediacy and raw nature are inferior to X (formerly Twitter). In the case of X (formerly Twitter), individual posts become media, so even if credibility is uncertain, they spread quickly and can be obtained. When disasters occur, X (formerly Twitter) will be very advantageous for quickly obtaining information. If you tweet 'Lost my wallet!', there are cases where someone reports finding it. However, since truly valuable information is automatically delivered, there is almost no need to be swayed by information.

Even if your information sensitivity is low, or you have little knowledge to judge the quality of information, if you want to keep getting better information, I overwhelmingly recommend Facebook. Even if its speed is inferior to X (formerly Twitter), the latest information still arrives by the next morning, and it's not so slow as to fall behind the times. Even among fast information transmission, there's an image that each has its own superiority and inferiority in speed. Currently, 'good stories' from Mr. Minowa are flowing on Facebook, but X (formerly Twitter) is full of information about Mr. Minowa's power harassment. By the next morning, Facebook might also switch to information about Mr. Minowa's power harassment, or Mr. Minowa's content might be voluntarily withdrawn. That's the idea.

How should Facebook and X (formerly Twitter) be used differently?

I've written about how to use Facebook and X (formerly Twitter) differently, but ultimately, how should they be used differently, and which platform should what kind of person use? I've listed them below, so please try to think about it from your own perspective.

Cases for using Facebook

• Want high-quality information efficiently
• Want necessary information delivered accurately
• Don't want to spend effort choosing the authenticity of information
• Don't want to be swayed by trivial opinions
• No need for unnecessary discussions or emotional arguments
• Want a stable supply of high-quality information
• I'm not good at selecting information
• Have little knowledge and experience to decide what good information is
• Completely new to both SNS and the internet
• I want to acquire high-quality customers by utilizing advertising
• I want to acquire good users even if it costs money

Cases for using X (formerly Twitter)

• I want real-time information
• I want to hear raw opinions from 'individuals' rather than media
• I want to select information myself from a vast amount of data
• I can gather a large amount of information and then choose and decide for myself
• I have abundant knowledge and can judge for myself what is beneficial to me
• I can judge things by my own will, without being influenced or swayed by others
• I can think for myself without being influenced by influencer posts
• I have information I want to share, not just receive
• I want to do marketing targeting many users for free

Once you get used to it, you should, of course, master both

As you can see, both have their characteristics, but I use both. I primarily use Facebook to get information where I don't want to put in the effort to select it myself, and I always want to receive the latest cutting-edge information. Most of my work communication is also via Facebook Messenger, and I use Slack if necessary. It also functions as a business tool.

I use X (formerly Twitter) to gather 'individual' opinions. Also, since it has a strong reach, I use it when I want to disseminate information. Furthermore, when obtaining real-time information like currency exchange, X (formerly Twitter) is overwhelmingly advantageous. If you search for something like 'USD/JPY', you can immediately find reasons for sudden rises or crashes. I also use X (formerly Twitter) instead of Facebook during disasters.

Therefore, when you want to get stable, cutting-edge, high-quality information, use Facebook. For individual information, information requiring immediacy, and for disseminating information, it's basically X (formerly Twitter). I think it's better to primarily gather information on Facebook, and then utilize X (formerly Twitter) to research how individuals think about the information obtained on Facebook, including reviews and so on. The effort of having to select information yourself from a chaotic vortex of information is tedious in the first place.

So, I've written at length, but if you want to get more efficient, wonderful, high-quality, and reliable information, please refer to this. You should be able to obtain high-quality information many times more efficiently than before. Truly.