things that will have me thinking for a long time...

- Twitter is not about information anymore. It’s meta-entertainment.

- The real takeaway here isn’t which screen is winning but that we’re entering a multi-screen viewing environment.

- But hashtags are clearly a great way to aggregate content on a topic or event. 

- Twitter conversations are about brands.

-  In the end it comes down not to who you follow but what content you’re engaging in.

-  Even when someone shares something on Facebook it’s as much about who shared it with you as what is shared.

- Not only will brands and businesses want to advertise against these new forms of meta-entertainment, but they’ll seek out ways to create their own.

Great summary, Anthony! :) The article opened my eyes about Twitter's potential.

But more so (for me), I can now see how G+ in this social puzzle is on a direct path to domination in terms of brand establishment and engagement. It'll just take a little more time to see that for majority of businesses.

Once again AJ hits it out of the park. It's about time someone said it so forthrightly: people don't want to converse with brands; they want to talk about brands. Like no one before that I know of, AJ has distilled the difference between Facebook and Twitter from a marketing standpoint, and found the Achille's heal of Facebook's much-touted advertising powerhouse (based on its massive user data).

My biggest concern for Twitter as an advertising platform, however, is how far it lags behind in providing useful analytics. Especially when it comes to user behavior beyond the viewed post (something Facebook is already trying to solve). Anyone who saw the articles about IBM attributing 0% of its Black Friday sales to Twitter knows this kind of attribution is critical for social platforms to prove their ROI.

What was their strategy on social (if any) - that's what I'm wondering about.

Or did they think people will just start talking about them on Twitter?

Good question. I haven't seen anyone yet digging much beyond a hysterical headline that OMG TWITTER DON'T WORK FOR BIZNESS!!!

Thanks everyone! I'm glad that people are finding it interesting. I'm sa bit surprised that I haven't heard more people taking the side of Facebook in this debate. Maybe they'll come out of the woodwork later today but I thought there might be more instant Facebook backlash.

One of the things I've realized in writing this post (for 4+ days) was that I wasn't doing enough for my clients with Twitter and hashtags. I think content marketers and SEOs should be thinking about hashtag campaigns which would create this type of aggregated entertainment both as a destination of but also as a way to identify influencers. 

It'll take a fair amount of creativity though. #satanstoaster

We have a great discussion going on around this post on Google+ that includes AJ, Max, and several other top-notch business and advertising professionals: https://plus.google.com/u/0/107022061436866576067/posts/YMYdNFuTWqn