Morada Musings

Many people are confused by the differences between Facebook and Twitter.  It could be said one is for those you know and the other for those you’d like to know.  Not completely true but good enough for our illustration.

Facebook started out as a way to connect with friends, family, schoolmates, former co-workers – in short, people you already know.  But it doesn’t stop there because as you read what they write, you also get to see what their friends/family/coworkers write in response.   Maybe you’d really like to get to know John’s friend Jimbo because you just love his sense of humor, or Mary because she always mentions her pet and you have the same kind.  You can ask your “friend” to introduce you but you can also contact them directly and ask to be a “friend” on the basis of your mutual acquaintance.  Your postings (messages) are written on your “Wall”, similar to tacking a notice on a bulletin board.  Those whom you have added as friends, and their friends, will be able to read what you’ve written.  Your friends can write comments in response, or just click on the “Like” link to indicate that they share your opinion or otherwise like what you had to say without having to write their own message.   (There are additional privacy settings you can choose in your profile to restrict who can see what and who can write on your wall.  I’ll go into these in depth in future newsletter articles so be sure to subscribe using the sign-up box over there in the upper left.)

Twitter, on the other hand, is more like a networking event or cocktail party – you make connections with people you don’t know yet and develop a relationship based on shared interests.  Your postings are called “tweets” and are limited to 140 characters in answer to the question “What are you doing?”  The people you are connected to are referred to as your “followers” just as you are listed on others’ lists as “following” them.

So, how do you meet these people and start following each other?  When you login each day, you’ll see a list on the right side of the page showing Trending Topics – what’s most being talked about right now by everyone on Twitter, not just the people you’re following or who are following you.  Click on one of those links and you’re connected to the “news stream” page for that topic.  Don’t see something of interest in the topics list?  Type a keyword in the search box and find others who are talking about what’s of interest to you.  It’s like making your way around the room at a party until you find a cluster who are having a conversation that’s engaging to you.

But don’t stop there by just posting a tweet; click on the tag names of other people and check out their profiles.  Do it resonate with you?  Have tweets that bring up interesting topics or  links to outside articles that you find relevant?  If you like what you see, click on the “Follow” button in the upper left of their profile page and whenever they tweet, it will show up in the news stream on your homepage.   It’s also a nice gesture to send them a Direct Message introducing yourself.  Although a DM is in the same restricted 140 character form, it is private correspondence between you and the person to whom you’re sending it.  More often than not, those you follow will choose to follow you as well and a new relationship begins.

So, those are the very basics of these two forms of social media.  You can decide that one works well for you but not the other, or you may realize that each can bring you into “touching” distance of people you’d never have otherwise met.  New friends, new ways of building community and new opportunities to get connected with potential customers.  Next time we’ll talk more about marketing etiquette in these venues and ways to maintain appropriate privacy.