Facebook vs. Twitter: An Examination of Differences in Behavior Type and Substance Based on Psychological Factors

In this paper, we discuss the differences between Facebook and Twitter users in terms of their activity on the sites and how this may be related to the personality and trait affect of users. Differences between the types of activity users create, comment on, share, and "like" may lead to further insight about the psychological factors that influence the use of social networking sites and how they may vary between Facebook and Twitter. In particular, we examine several specific types of activity which may help in this regard: 1. the frequency of use of the social networking platform; 2. the topic of a particular activity, and 3. the type of activity. The type of activities are the normal modes of interaction on a social networking site, such as creating a new post, or liking, sharing, or commenting on an existing one. Categories of content are generalized classifications, such as a political post versus a post that is more informational in nature. The results indicate that there are some similarities between users of both platforms related to their type and the content of their activities. However, there are some interesting differences.