In today’s digital age, many of us are digitally connected nearly 24/7. Amid this proliferating media maelstrom, it’s easy to get caught up in the information undertow.

As students in the digital age, we’re quite accustomed to online interaction whether on Facebook or Twitter. So the question stands, which reigns supreme?

Facebook currently boasts a roughly 1 billion users worldwide, with more than 155 million of those in the United States, making it the most highly used social networking site.

Facebook’s accessibility options are known far and wide. Photos, notes and status updates are easily shared and publicized. With comments and the “like” button, any contribution one makes can be quickly evaluated by his or her online friends.

While most companies tend to thrive on innovation, Facebook’s popularity seems to dip whenever a major makeover occurs. In fact, in the past six months, Facebook has lost more than 2.8 million users, an estimated 1.75 percent loss.

It seems Facebook tends to lose users after most aesthetic and interface-related changes, most specifically after switching from the original profile layout to the now-standard timeline style.

This reluctance to change may be rooted in Facebook’s original style of a no-nonsense, streamlined social networking site. Its original simplicity once lent itself well to novice internet users who were previously unsure about social networking. Now that it is becoming a more complex and busier interface, some users find themselves frequenting Facebook less and less and some are even unplugging for good.

Last month, Facebook received yet another redesign, a fine-tooling of the newsfeed and layout in an attempt to mitigate the current clutter some users find distracting. Things like ads, group sponsored photos and memes that crowd news from close friends. The news feed feature was also modified to allow for increased personalization.

These changes in search engine algorithms allow Facebook users to more thoroughly customize their news feeds to show updates only from specific friends and groups, much like picking and choosing artists or genres on a Pandora radio station. Many social media critics contend that this endlessly customizable news feed is not only rarely utilized, but simply not worth the work.

Aaron Deacon, the president of the Social Media Club of Kansas City, said Facebook is organized well enough.

“It doesn’t seem to be over cluttered,” he said. “And in terms of a real-time news source, I think Twitter is more useful. [Twitter] is set up and built to be that way and Facebook isn’t, which is not a weakness of Facebook.”

Facebook, though, is convinced it is and by moderating the supposed news feed clutter, Facebook hopes to hang on to its current users and attract more individuals uncomfortable with social networking sites, specifically the elderly.

Twitter, which celebrated its seventh birthday last month, has currently more than 500 million registered users, far less than Facebook.

But having fewer users doesn’t necessarily reduce Twitter’s credibility.

By allowing users to upload instant messages of up to 140 characters, Twitter has revolutionized the way we learn, communicate and connect. With the introduction of hashtags, heaps of information can be organized with ease and accessed almost instantly. And with Twitter users now sending an average of one billion tweets a week, organization is paramount.

But Twitter isn’t limited to instantaneous commenting and media promotion. In the case of the Arab Spring, social media, particularly Twitter, became invaluable. The rapid dissemination of uncensored, explicit material minute by minute united activists like never before and allowed for the even the overthrow of powerful despots.

Information regarding support communities, opportunities for aid and live video feeds allowed for quick and informed organization. Protests were quickly organized and citizens found they could fearlessly communicate.

Twitter is also being used by law enforcement agencies around the world. Officers and dispatchers can instantly tweet crime reports for the day, inform anyone of police business and advertise when arrests are made, specifically to curb drunk driving.

Twitter tends to draw far less criticism than Facebook, most likely due to its simplified structure and lack of serious makeovers. Its chronologic, real-time presentation of tweets is generally favored over Facebook’s nonlinear newsfeed hodgepodge.

Deacon likes Twitter. He uses it more than Facebook and finds it to be effective for what it is.

“Its limitations are built into what it is. There are so many tools out there that you take at face value and you use what you like and ignore what you don’t,” he said.

And it seems many Twitter fans are doing just that. Take these figures for example. Justin Bieber has 37 million followers, that’s 8 million more followers than Barack Obama and 20 million more than Twitter itself. Youtube and Instagram are hovering around the 20 million mark, 10 million more than CNN, the highest followed news source, and almost 14 million more than ESPN, the highest followed sports source.

It appears that the majority of Twitter users follow what’s popular: popular music, popular apps, and popular people. News and sports sources tend to take more of a back burner, a remarkable trend given Twitter is prided on its dependable punctuality.

So which is the ultimate alternative? The answer is up to you. Both Facebook and Twitter offer exceptional accessibility and convenience, whether via a computer or mobile device. Neither is any more or less reliable for facts either, one must simply take other users’ comments heavily salted.

Both also offer exceptional opportunities for global communication and self-marketing.

When choosing between the two services, consider what James Gentry, a journalism professor from the University of Kansas, has to offer.

“The answer, like most in the strategic communications area, is it depends – on your strategy and your goals.”