Twitter vs. Facebook (part 1)

I started writing this as a rant but then I figured it should be a guide, I figure why complain when I can try to help.  I am starting with guiding facebook users in how to get some value on twitter.  .

Ok being a user of both platforms I always am running into people that say I won’t use twitter because of this or I wont use Facebook because of that, I am here to say that both of these types of people are missing the boat completely, at least from my point of view.

Twitter is nothing like facebook, though it can be used similarly it is vastly different.  Twitter is like having a soapbox to talk to the entire world about anything you desire, while facebook is a small community made up of people you know.  Personally I think everyone should have a presence in both places but I don’t think the two should mix, in other words, I wouldn’t suggest for anyone to open up their Facebook profile to the world, and I don’t think you should isolate your twitter to just people you know.  Doing either of these limits the usefulness of each product in my opinion and I feel you get much more value in using these for their strengths.

Again while reading this remember:

Facebook: Close Friends, acquaintances and Family

Twitter: EVERYBODY ELSE

Occasionally you might get some cross over, twitter followers you get to know on a more personal level may become your facebook friends and friends from facebook may start following you on twitter but I at least try to keep the two worlds separate.

Ok I have to admit I was in the camp with the people that use facebook and wouldn’t use twitter.  I honestly looked at twitter as a bunch of status updates and the like, granted I was looking at the web page.  But I didn’t understand the concept of social networking at the time and how valuable a live stream of information could be useful.  That and twitter has to have the most god awful web interface known to man.  Heres my hint for people who use facebook and looking into twitter, if you want to find out what the big deal about twitter is don’t use the web site… Once you create an account set your picture and leave.  Don’t come back until you have a better feel for twitter, otherwise you will get frustrated and leave never to return.

The key I have found to twitter is the use of applications to organize the streams of information.  For a newbie I would recommend Seesmic or tweetdeck then before you actually start following people do a few searches for things you are interested in.  Once you have done that search start following the people that are talking in those searches…

But heres the key don’t be a silent observer, most people wont know your even there so you still wont get the point of twitter.  Unlike on facebook where most times you only comment if people are saying something directly to you, most people on twitter are saying things to get responses from the world, so comment, say something anything.  That way people know you are there and once they know your there they will start to interact with you.

On twitter a closed mouth doesn’t get fed so talk, heck you don’t even have to interact some times, just start ranting about something on your mind and eventually your bound to attract some attention.

Oh I left out a very important part… in the beginning don’t block your tweets… at least until you get a few followers, again this way people know that your their so that they can interact with you.  Once you get a few followers (about 20-30) that interact with you on a regular basis its cool to block your tweets because when your followers @ reply to you their followers will see it and if they are interested in hearing (reading) what you have to say they will request to follow you and you can be a bit selective about who you allow to follow you.

Also quick warning… there are a few apps for facebook that will pull your twitter stream into facebook and the apps for twitter can also post to facebook, I strongly suggest not updating automatically into facebook because this will utterly confuse your friends on facebook.  You can use the twitter apps to update facebook but only do it either when you have something to say that effects both crowds or just to update facebook only, and then immediately switch it back.

Both Seesmic and Tweetdeck allow you to see your friends on facebook’s status updates and comment on them, they also allow you to like status updates, so I also find these tools helpfully in keeping me up-to-date on whats going on on facebook.

The most fun you can have though is watching a TV show while on twitter, if you don’t believe me, try watching something like an awards show or a popular TV show, search for the shows name in one of the applications and just watch the stream.  I will get on hash tags in a later post but if you watch for long enough you will probably get the picture.  This is how I met most of the people I follow now.

I will probably add more to this as time goes on but this is just my intro for people that are curious about the twitter phenomenon but don’t quite get what its all about, I hope this helps, feel free to comment or tweet me @sgtmcclain if you get lost along the way.

Stay tuned for part 2 Facebook for Twitter users.