A Facebook and Twitter Primer, Part 2
This is the second part of a two part primer on social networking giants Facebook and Twitter. The first part gives basic information on using Facebook. This post will cover basic information on Twitter. This primer came about when a client asked me to send him an email on how to use the two sites. The information I emailed him ended up being longer than he was likely expecting. When I was finished, it occurred to me that I could re-purpose this information into a two part blog post. Bear in mind when reading this that I’ve edited it somewhat, but it was originally written in more of an email format than a blog post format.
This isn’t a complete textbook on Twitter, nor was it meant to be. It’s merely some information to get you started. Whether you’re just learning, or you’re a social networking pro, please be sure to follow me on Twitter, at @stevemullen!
A Primer on Twitter
While Twitter and Facebook have some similarities in what they’re used FOR (at least when it comes to business), the atmosphere at each is very different. Using Facebook privacy settings, you can control who sees your posts. On Twitter, everything is out in the open for all to see. Additionally, there’s the 140-character limit to deal with on Twitter, which means posts are usually limited to a sentence or two and a link.
New Twitter-Only Handheld
I just read on Mashable about the official release of the Twitter Peek, a new handheld Internet device that connects only to Twitter. It’s a head-scratcher. Obviously, any smartphone out there will connect to Twitter one way or another. The price is good ($199.99 with lifetime mobile service included or $99.99 with six months included and then a monthly fee) but it seems to me that purchasing a smartphone makes a lot more sense because it can accomplish other tasks, like .. well .. making phonecalls. Peek is known better for their handheld email-only devices.
Regardless of whether the product makes sense or anyone will buy it, I think it’s an interesting statement on how much Twitter is weaving itself into our lives. Have you ever seen a Facebook-only device? Yeah … me neither.
5 Steps to Proper Setup & Feeding of Twitter
If you’re a member of the Twitter Elite (Twelite? Tweelite?) or even a regular user of Twitter, you probably already know everything there is to know about setting up your Twitter account. This post is for everyone else.
I’m surprised at the number of people who have 1,000+ followers, but haven’t filled out the basic information that Twitter allows. In fact, when I see an account with a mess of followers but no details, I automatically assume they’re playing the Twitter Numbers Game, and don’t follow the person.
Below are a list of five tasks that I feel are required for a successful Twitter account:
Social Network Saturation?
There’s an interesting article at Mashable today about data suggesting that Facebook and Twitter traffic is flattening. According to the article:
Somewhere in June [...] Twitter stopped growing, at least according to Compete. The same thing happened to Facebook (Facebook) at the exact same time; at first we’ve attributed the traffic numbers to the summer slumber, but now that Compete’s numbers for September are out, there’s no doubt that both Facebook and Twitter are no longer growing, at least in the eyes of the (admittedly US-centric) Compete.
One of 100 PR People Worth Following
All day on Sunday, I noticed a flood of new Twitter followers. This is rather unexpected on a Sunday, as you might imagine. I couldn’t figure out what I could have possibly done to trigger it. Then, I figured it out. Valeria Maltoni, writer of the excellent blog Conversation Agent, named me one of her 100 PR People Worth Following on Twitter. I’m thrilled at this, of course, and want to thank Valeria … not only for naming me to her list, but for compiling the list in the first place. There are thousands (millions?) of great PR people on Twitter, and this list is a wonderful starting point for anyone who wants to join in the PR conversation on the micro-blogging site.
If you want to do it the easy way, Neville Hobson created a list on TweepML. You can follow each of the 100 on Valeria’s list by clicking one button! Follow this link: http://tweepml.org/PR-100/
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