Over at LinkedIn, I just joined the Consultants Network group, and am watching a recent discussion which posed the question, “twitter or facebook? time for only one.” I was surprised to see as many people as I did saying they just didn’t “get” Twitter. Personally, I find Facebook less appealing, but this isn’t the real question. The real question to answer is twofold: (1) where your target market is, if that’s the reason you’re engaging in social media; and (2) which social media you can use most effectively. Remember, Don’t Get it to Have It, Get it to Use It.

Earlier this year, a PEW report on Adults and Social Network Websites suggested that Twitter has a slightly higher average age (over 30 vs. under 30) user than does Facebook, so that’s one place to start. Yes, there are complaints about how inane each one is. Facebook is filled with silly memes and applications, and Twitter pushes messages about people getting their nails done. I don’t care much for either… but at least unfollowing someone on Twitter is less of a slap in the face than unfriending them on Facebook, so filtering out the signal:noise is relatively easy… as when you finally find the place to turn off all the email notifications from Facebook.

Both can be set up to pull status updates from the other, so for now I suggest trying both to see (a) where your connections are and (b) which one you can be most effective with. Set one to update from the other, and focus on the one that works best for you, and de-prioritize the other or drop it altogether. Get a good tool for updating them and following others — tools like Seesmic Desktop or TweetDeck make maintaining them much easier.

And in case you’re wondering, I find a lot of good content and meaningful information through Twitter, and my Facebook account is now set up with the Twitter app to update my status with my latest Tweet.

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• Twitter gets you fired in 140 characters or less
• Twitter to Unseat Google?
• Why email might make news media interviews obsolete
• Malcolm Gladwell: The future of the media