Facebook or Twitter?

I saw a tweet by a well-known blogger and technology executive that he was spending far less time on Facebook. When I asked what was doing online instead, he quickly replied “Twitter! More engagement, realtime discussions, feedbacks. Facebook is becoming (for me) a stream of useless stuff”.

It struck me as an interesting comment because it reflects my approach to Facebook as well. For me, Facebook serves as a professional utility and personal branding tool. It is not a place where I spend much time looking at my News Feed and getting updates on what my “friends” are doing.

Twitter, however, is a resource tool (It has mostly replaced Google Reader as the way to discover new content), a research tool to ask answers to just about anything, a place to stay up-to-date with the biggest stories of day, and a way to engage with other people.

As a result, I probably spend 80% to 90% of my time on Twitter, and only 10% to 20% on Facebook. This is one of the reasons why I find Facebook’s continued growth to be so fascinating because I’m personally not fascinated with it as a service, although it is a truly amazing story.

The question is why Twitter or Facebook?

Is this something that is common among people who are heavy users of the Web and/or involved in digital marketing, development, social media and editorial content? Are we simply not the sweet spot for Facebook?