I'm a little weary of the Twitter Vs. Facebook debate. I posted this comment on Fred Wilson's blog. I thought I would share here:
Twitter is the status service of the web-wide social network. Facebook status updates are the status update feature of Facebook. The web will always be bigger than Facebook therefore Twitter's potential as a messaging bus will always be greater.
While Twitter continues to create loosely coupled links across the open web (a lightweight process), Facebook continues to try to expand the perimeter of its walled garden (a heavy weight process that is creating a backlash from major brands and savvy users).
Twitter is public and asymmetrical. It allows for bots and other innovations.
Facebook is private and symmetrical, forcing users to use their real names and deciding which updates get through to follower news feed.
The two services couldn't be more different and the influence and effectiveness of their scale can not be measured 1:1.