All this social networking can be intimidating. In the struggle to stay on top of the two major sites Facebook and Twitter, it has been increasingly common for the same status to serve both services. I’m all for it. In fact, I do this for our company page and personally. Yet, most get it all wrong!
Like I said, I’m all for implementing a “touch it once” philosophy when it comes to posting to Facebook and Twitter. However, I’m all for it being done correctly. You may be asking yourself “there’s a right way and a wrong way?” I’m here to tell you that indeed there is a wrong way and a right way.
First, the wrong way. It seems simple enough to enable the Facebook to Twitter application. Using this application, offered by Facebook, posts your Facebook status to Twitter. However, when it posts the status it also posts a link. The link directs users to your status on Facebook. No more information is obtained by clicking on the link. Fundamentally, links should be informational, and the use of a link to direct me to the exact information I just read is inefficient, and inconsiderate of your reader’s time!
Now, the right way. You should be posting from Twitter to Facebook. Why? Because Twitter is set up to share 140-character messages (similar to a status in Facebook). Using any number of applications – Selective Tweets, a Facebook app; Seesmic, a standalone social network app; and my favorite TweetDeck, a standalone social network app – you can update your Twitter status and your Facebook status (even multiple accounts – I have both personal and work Twitter and Facebook accounts) from one place. You can easily share links that give context to your status and not send readers to links that share no more information.
Why is this important? Because, when providing me with links that offer no other information, it’s like crying wolf. I eventually tune out your links, and stop clicking on them all together. Which means, when you do provide an informational link, I’m likely to miss it altogether because you’ve cried wolf so many times!
Take a serious look at how you’re implementing your social networking. If you’re using Facebook to update Twitter, you need to understand what the Twitter user is experiencing, and how you’re negatively impacting their experiences! If you’re trying to reach both social networks and their users, you need to act like you belong.