What about Facebook could possibly make you smarter? And on the flip side of the coin, what about Twitter could possibly make you dumber?

There are a few factors involved, according to Dr. Tracy Alloway. A psychologist from the University of Stirling in Scotland says her studies show more brain activity on Facebook than on Twitter, as you are actively keeping up with multiple friends. Twitter, on the other hand, requires less brain engagement as the context of Twitter activity is in more short-form.

Still skeptical?

From my understanding of Dr. Alloway’s study, this all boils down to brain activity and the creation of new neural connections. In other words, the making of new neural connections means that you are learning something, which in turn makes you a smarter person.

The best way to learn is through experience, right? So having new experiences means that you’re learning something. The act of having an experience, remembering the actions involved and modifying future behavior from there is the process of learning. This is the way in which we train and exercise our brains. This is the way in which we steer clear from losing it from lack of using it.

In this regard, I understand where Dr. Alloway is coming from. But it does seem a bit radical to apply these notions of learning to social networking in such a way. It’s an over-generalization of both Facebook and Twitter, turning to small averages of social networking use.

As is the case with any social science study, there is a difference between the average experience and the individual experience. and since I haven’t conducted any studies to replicate or refute Dr. Alloway’s findings, I can only speak from anecdotal experiences that highlight individuals’ social networking experiences. In essence, it’s up to each individual to glean their own experience from social networking.

If you’re keeping up with 50 good friends on Twitter versus Facebook, then perhaps your brain engagement is at a similar level than what you would find on Facebook. Or perhaps the fact that all your friends’ relevant information is accessible directly on Facebook as opposed to Twitter, where you’d have to visit another site to read their latest “note” or view last weekend’s photo album means that the social network’s presence as a conduit is irrelevant towards the act of deeper brain engagement.

What I find particularly interesting with the implications of Dr. Alloway’s study is that Facebook is currently striving to turn its newsfeeds into a more open format, similar to Twitter. If information is more fluid and requires less time directly on Facebook’s site, will its affect on our brain engagement remain the same?

It’s easy enough to look at these two sites for comparison purposes when it comes to Dr. Alloway’s study, but it’s important to note that other sites were included as well. YouTube, for instance, falls in the Twitter category of not requiring deep brain engagement for the average usage. That undoubtedly leaves out the fact that you could be watching a documentary on YouTube, or an educational video on how to change the brakes on your car.

Again, that leaves things entirely up to the individual on how you’d like social networking and media sites to cater to you–take what you need from social networking sites and you’ll have the experience you deserve.