There are two ways to look at this question. One would be to consider the need for attention vis-à-vis the need to know. Obviously Facebook is like a peeping Tom into the lives of people you know personally and who have allowed you access to their accounts. Twitter, on the other hand, does not require you to know the other person personally. You could be a fan or an interested follower.

Facebook passed the 1 billionuser mark last October 2012. It was not the first social media platform in the Internet. The first was MySpace. However, in 2008, Facebook overtook MySpace and became the number one social media site in the world. It is so popular that even Human Resources departments and head hunters are using it to “find the dirt” or treasure on applicants trying to get hired with them.

Twitter, on the other hand, has more than 200 million users and is fast becoming the social media site many people turn to for the latest news on everything from sports to politics.

As for businesses, in 2008, the investment by companies worldwide amounted to $2 billion. That was an astonishing amount then but the amount grew even further. In 2011, just 3 years later, businesses invested over #3 billion in social websites.

If you are going to choose one over the other to promote your business, I recommend that you go with Twitter because it has a wider reach. However, if you want to socialize and have a more intimate relationship with your readers, stick to Facebook.

However, Facebook is allowing businesses to add business pages to their site. This means that online entrepreneur can have the best of both worlds: a business and personal account that may never cross paths.

From a different perspective, it’s not that easy to find and hold onto Twitter followers. Unlike Facebook, there is no emotional bond with others. Just think about it, f you ask your family, friends, relatives to be your friend on Facebook, they’ll do it because of emotional blackmail. And they won’t dare remove you unless they want to start World War 3. This emotional tie will hold you and keep your bound for a long time.

With Twitter however, it isn’t going to be as easy with Twitter. With Twitter, you must work hard to get followers. You have to post interesting tweets so people would want to follow you and then you have to keep them interested. You have to steer clear of people who simply follow you because they want more followers and could care less about whom they’re following. Instead, you want to target followers whom you can interact and build a relationship with.

Keep in mind that this will take some work but it can most certainly be done. However, it will take some time to build your readership. If you don’t have time, hire a marketing assistant to do the Twitter or Facebook marketing for you.