May 2009

Ask someone new to social media and they will tell you “Twitter is just a bunch of Facebook status updates—what is the point?” But those of us who are inclined to dabble a little further will paint a very different picture.  Here is one amateur geek’s perspective on how you can play in both sand boxes:

Facebook friends REALLY should be friends! It really is the perfect platform to share your personal thoughts, updates, images, videos, solicit advice, promote a cause with people that you would ACTUALLY talk to in real life—family and friends.  Sending around a mass e-mail to my loved ones around the world (from Abu Dhabi to Amarillo) with pictures of my one-year-old son connected to a photo account link seems practically archaic. With Facebook, I continue to constantly update my photos, videos and news and those who are most interested (friends who engage with my content frequently by commenting or linking) can check in on me whenever they check their page…and I don’t have to worry I have left someone off an email or that I am stuck in a spam folder somewhere.

Twitter on the other hand allows me to connect and engage with like-minded people around the world—not necessarily friends, but people who talk about things I am interested in hearing about.  I am not friends with Demi Moore (I totally admire her and am constantly impressed at her staying power and relevance), but it was so fascinating to go behind the scenes via her Twitter updates to the Oscar parties (photos with people goofing with Penelope Cruz’s statue) that she and Ashton attended this past award season—that is access the average gal never had before!  I also use it as a way to follow topics that I don’t have the time of day to Google search. For instance, I don’t have time to go to all of my favorite Web sites for news (CNN, NYTIMES, Perez Hilton) but by following them on Twitter, I get the headlines and if I choose to, I can click the link for the full story.  I also “tweet” (share my thoughts/opinions) and read about niche topics on twitter, i.e. beauty on a budget, food allergies for toddlers, pr industry news.

The bottom line: BOTH Facebook and Twitter help you connect better with certain people in our ever-evolving technical lives.  The key is to keep Facebook personal (remember your audience) and use Twitter to edit/sort your online news and be your “voice to the masses.”