Archive for January, 2009

Facebook (and Twitter and LinkedIn): What’s the Dif?

Published
by
Hildy
on January 29, 2009
in Tools to Use Now
. 2 Comments

This is the last of a three-part series on the three big social networking sites, to help readers understand what the difference is between them. These posts are intended to help you navigate the terrain of these seemingly foreign planets, and to hopefully encourage you to visit and perhaps stay for a while!

Today’s post will address Facebook. In prior posts you will find similar information about LinkedIn and Twitter.

Facebook
In the prior posts in this series, I likened LinkedIn to a Chamber of Commerce mixer – a place that is intended for networking that is all business. And I described Twitter as a huge party, where every conceivable type of person with every conceivable interest is available for you to mingle with and get to know.

Facebook, in my analogy-driven mind, is like a neighborhood block party. At a block party, the streets are closed off, and the only folks who will be welcome are those who live in your neighborhood or were invited by you or your neighbors.

At a block party, you will catch up with the people you already know (and may already be friends with). Even when you are mingling with neighbors you do not know yet, you still have a sense of familiarity. “Oh, you’re the one who grows the sunflowers!” or “I see you walking your dog all the time – what breed is he?” or “Your baby has gotten so big – I remember we met when she was just born!”

Unlike the kind of huge gala event we envisioned with Twitter, a block party is usually a leisurely affair in all ways. Block parties bring to mind shorts and flip flops, potluck dinners, and a slow pace. At a block party, you sit on lawn chairs and shoot the breeze, watching the kids run around. You don’t really have to be “on” because these are the people who have seen you dragging your trash to the curb in your pajamas!

Many things can happen at a block party, because you are all, in essence, at home. If someone mentions they are going to Paris, you can easily say, “I was there last year. I got a great guidebook. Let me run in the house and get it.” Same goes for pictures of your kids, or a recipe, or a houseplant cutting.

Block parties are also notorious for recruiting neighbors to help other neighbors and the neighborhood overall. Will you join the Neighborhood Watch? Come to the Neighborhood Association meeting? Help with the Alley-Cleanup next Saturday?

All that is what Facebook feels like. It is a friendly place, where you are as likely to find a favorite business associate as you are to find your teenaged nephew. Like a block party, for the most part you will only include people in your sphere if you already know them or have been somehow otherwise introduced.

At Facebook, you can post photos and videos and links to things you find interesting. You can start a group that is dedicated to any one of a zillion causes or issues – from being a fan of Firefly to wanting to save Darfur – and like the block party, you can recruit your friends to join you in those causes. You can send gifts and throw snowballs.

Unlike LinkedIn, where you can also post a profile and initiate discussions, Facebook is casual, friendly, informal. You may meet someone at LinkedIn through business, but eventually you will tell them, “I’ve got photos of my kids on my Facebook page. Become my friend on Facebook, and you’ll see them.”

The bottom line at Facebook is that it is about who you are as a person, rather than just what you do for a living. Facebook is where you may be asked to tell 25 things most people don’t know about you. (Yes, I know, I still need to do mine. I will, I promise!) It is where you will start to feel more comfortable with the people you only see one side of when you work together.

Facebook’s Value:
• We are told over and over that people tend to do business with people they like. Facebook shows you the personal side of your work associates, so you can get to like them!
• Much as it is with Twitter, Facebook can get the word out quickly to a lot of people at once, as a post by you will be seen by all your friends. Then they can post it to THEIR friends, and so on.
• Because Facebook has the ability to create groups around similar interests, and to have discussions posted there, it is possible to find people who are NOT already your friends, who have joined a group because they are interested in what you are interested in. From there, you can become friends / expand your network!
• With Facebook’s ability to post virtually anything you want – video, photos, links – it is really like carrying your house around with you online.
• At Facebook, when the box at the top of your home page asks, “What are you doing right now?” you can actually feel comfortable sharing what you’re doing! Frequently people will share what they just saw, or what they’re making for dinner – and that’s totally ok.

Facebook’s Downside:
• If you are the type who is not comfortable mixing your business and personal lives, you will likely not find great value in Facebook. There is a lot of “cause” talk, but not a lot of actual business.
• Much of what happens on Facebook is mind-numbingly dumb. Someone wants you to take a quiz to show how smart you are, how sexy you are, how stupid you are, what dog you would be. (A Twitter post by @AdamIsacson made me laugh out loud: “NYT Magazine reports Egyptian police beat up a guy to get his Facebook password. Now State Security knows what 80s movie character he’d be.”)

So there you have it.
LinkedIn - the perpetual Chamber of Commerce mixer
Twitter – the perpetual party at the end of the universe
Facebook – the perpetual neighborhood block party

And while all 3 systems have their strengths, there is huge strength in using them all together. And then adding in your blog. And inviting folks in all 3 places to comment at your blog. Or to pass along your blog post to people on Twitter.  Or to link to your Twitter account from LinkedIn. After all, they don’t call it “social networking” for nothing!

And to show you what it looks like to link those all together, I will ask you to please add me to your friends at Facebook, your connections at LinkedIn, and your feed at Twitter.

If you think I missed anything on this or any of the other posts on this topic, please add your observations at the comment line. (Note – the comment button is at the TOP of this post.)

Twitter (and Facebook and LinkedIn): What’s the Dif?

Published
by
Hildy
on January 28, 2009
in Tools to Use Now
. 3 Comments

Yesterday, I began looking at the three big social networking sites, to help readers understand what the difference is between them. The reason for these posts is simple: I am not a techie, and as I began getting into the arena of social networking, I found that all the information about “how to” and “why to” was written by people who love technology. And as often happens, they wrote all that stuff as if I already had a base level of understanding which – well – I don’t!

As a non-techie, I had very different questions than techies might have. I wanted to know things like, “Is this somewhere I’ll feel comfortable, or will I make a fool of myself?” Or, “Ok, I visited the site, and I totally don’t get it. What does one DO here?” And of course, “What’s the big deal?”

I hope these posts will help answer those sorts of questions for you. If not, let me know. We will explain this till it DOES make sense. And we’ll do that for one reason: Social Networking is an amazing way to meet people who care about what you care about, and can help you do your work more effectively.

In yesterday’s post, I tackled LinkedIn.

Today, let’s look at Twitter.

Twitter
If, as I noted yesterday, LinkedIn is like a Chamber of Commerce mixer, Twitter is like an outrageous party – picture the Party at the End of the Universe.

At this party, you will find more people than you ever imagined could be in one place, with just as many conversations going on, all at once, all around you. As you roam around the party, you overhear one conversation and it is so boring you laugh to yourself, “I can’t believe anyone would think that is interesting!”

And then the very next conversation you hear makes you stop in your tracks, thinking, “WOW this person is FASCINATING!” As you chime in on that conversation, suddenly someone pulls a friend over and, pointing at YOU, says to her friend, “You have got to listen to this gal, she’s amazing!”

And that happens over and over, all night, as you mingle and sip a bit of champagne. An experienced party-goer will navigate away from the people they find dull, and will seek out the people who interest them.

Whatever your agenda – business, pleasure, sheer browsing – you will find it at the marvelous party that is Twitter. And just as you would do at a party, you’ll find yourself saying, “Oh, you’re into ponies? That guy over there was just talking about ponies. Let me introduce you…”

That is what Twitter feels like, all the time. People are on Twitter for any and every reason. Business, personal interest, connection. Unlike LinkedIn, there are no unspoken rules about “business” vs. “not business” because it’s a HUGE party! If you want to talk about business, you will find folks who share your interest. If you want to talk about volleyball or the best cure for a hangover, you will find those folks, too.

Twitter’s Value:
• If you are interested in something, someone else is, too. You will find people on Twitter who are interested in any possible thing you are interested in.
• Brevity. A post can only be 140 characters long. Not 140 words – 140 characters, including spaces – the size of a telephone text message. It’s hard to get long-winded when you’ve only got 140 characters to make your point!
• Easy to sift the wheat from the chaff. If you “follow” someone (stop to listen to them at the party for a while) and they are not what you thought, you can easily “unfollow” them. When you “unfollow” them (in essence, walking away from them at the party), their posts will no longer show up on your screen. Poof – boring-party-guy is gone from your sights!
• The ability for an idea or thought or message to spread is incredible. If you post something interesting, and 100 people are following you (reading what you post), 20 of those people might like your post so much they re-post it with a note that says, in essence, “You’ve gotta listen to this gal – she’s great!” If each of those 20 people also have 100 people following THEM – then you just got your message out to 2,000 people. (Remember, though, you have to be interesting for that to happen – just like at a party!)

Twitter’s Downside:
• Twitter can be a huge distraction and a huge time suck. Why? Because you are following people who are interesting! They might say, “I just read this amazing blog post” and provide the link. So you go to that link, and it IS amazing. Next thing you know, you’re commenting at their blog, and reading other posts that person wrote and BAM ½ hour is gone! Or because you thought what that person posted was interesting, you head to their Twitter page to see what else they have been posting about. Whose posts are THEY reading, that they find interesting? Wow – that one does indeed look interesting, let’s see what she has to say. And so on, until BAM another ½ hour is gone! Multiply that by all the people you might find really and truly interesting on Twitter, and it is possible to lose a lot of time there.
• It takes time and effort to cultivate relationships. Again, because this is a big party, if you were new in town and wanted to make friends, and you decided a good way to do that was to attend parties, you would have to put a lot of work into that. First, you would need to be present – you couldn’t just RSVP and not show up (i.e. sign up for Twitter but not participate). Second, you would have to not just meet people that night, but get back in touch with them after the party. Same with Twitter – if you meet someone by their 140 character posts, you may then send an email and get into conversation. Or comment at their blog. But regardless, just as it would be if you were getting to know people at a party, for those relationships to have any meaning, it’s what happens AFTER the party that counts. Twitter is great at introducing you and and keeping you in touch daily, but it’s not great at creating the depth a real relationship requires. Just like a party.
• There are some techie protocols you will want to learn to participate well. Not a lot, and they are easy to learn – how to reply, what the codes are for things. But they can seem like Martian to a newcomer. The reason for the lingo is simple: Brevity. Because posts are only 140 characters long, commonly used words become smushed into abbreviations. (For example, why waste all those characters writing the words “Direct Message” when you can write “DM”?) There are also signals like the # which actually means something in Twitter. It’s nothing you can mess up, but to get the most out of Twitter, there is a bit of learning-the-lingo that goes on. (My recommendation yesterday, for John Haydon’s blog, still stands. John does a very good job of explaining stuff.)

(2/7 Note: Just saw this post by Shel Israel, which may be helpful in further understanding Twitter.)

In the last installment, I tackle Facebook. You can find that here.

I anyone still has questions, ask them in the comment section. (Until we re-do the blog, the comment button is at the TOP of the post – sorry about that!) And if you have other ideas about either the value of Twitter or its downside, please add those as well.

In the meantime, if you’d like to meet me at any of the Social Networking sites we’re talking about here, please just click on the buttons in the right-hand column. I’ll look forward to seeing you there!

LinkedIn (and Facebook and Twitter): What’s the Dif?

Published
by
Hildy
on January 27, 2009
in Tools to Use Now
. 15 Comments

These days it seems everyone is talking about Facebook and Twitter and LinkedIn. Some people are on one, but not others. Some are on none, and are befuddled.  “Even if I think it’s a good idea to use Social Networking for our work, which should we use? Should we be on all of them? And really, what is all this and what do we have to do to be “on” these things?”

There are many good sites and blog posts for explaining the basics of how to use Social Media, especially in the Community Benefit world.  Here is just one, but if you type “Social Media” or “Social Networking” and “Nonprofits” into Google, you will find a lot to review.  (I recommend John Haydon’s blog as one that teaches the basics of Social Networking to Community Organizations at a level that is simultaneously 101 Level and not condescending – a great gift!)

Being a teacher at heart, though, I can’t help but want to explain the differences between all these places – LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter.  And being a storyteller, my explanations lean towards analogies. So herewith, my small attempt to explain the differences between these three major social networking systems, including pros and cons of each. Please pitch in and share your own observations – anything that will help folks see the value in all these various social networking tools. Because they are all indeed valuable in their own ways.

To not make this post longer than anyone could humanly want to read, I will break this into chunks for the next few days. Today, let’s start with LinkedIn.

LinkedIn
LinkedIn is all business. When I first started to dive into all three of these social networks, I posed the question on LinkedIn: What’s the difference between them all? And repeatedly folks told me, “LinkedIn is where I go to connect for business ONLY.”

Having participated at LinkedIn for a while now, the mood at LinkedIn reminds me of a Chamber of Commerce mixer. Folks are on LinkedIn because they want to find others with whom to do business. They might be looking for a job, or for clients or customers, but LinkedIn is where you go to network for business. The mood, like a Chamber mixer, is the self-promotional side of the business world.

As for what LinkedIn has to offer, you can post as extensive a personal vitae as you would like as part of your profile, complete with photo.  You can ask questions or start a discussion or post a news item others might find interesting.  And most importantly, you can search the site to identify people who work in a particular industry, to contact them directly, all through LinkedIn.

LinkedIn’s Value:
• Great connections. I can’t stress that enough. Savvy business folks from every field imaginable are on LinkedIn
• LinkedIn’s professional profiles give you a ton of information about someone, a great way to do research on folks you may want to connect with
• A sincere willingness on the part of those who are on LinkedIn to share what they know when you have a question
• And for those who draw strong distinctions between “business” and “pleasure,” you will feel most comfortable at LinkedIn, as it is really almost entirely “all business.”

LinkedIn’s Downside:
• Personally, I find LinkedIn’s platform cumbersome at best, and impossible to navigate / downright frustrating at worst.
• Because everyone is at LinkedIn for one purpose only – to do business – many people (myself included) find LinkedIn a bit too self-promotional, with everyone trying to sell themselves, all the time. If you generally feel comfortable and “in your element” at a Chamber of Commerce mixer, however, you will be right at home at LinkedIn.
• Lastly, I feel like Community Benefit Organizations are an afterthought at LinkedIn. Much like we often feel at a Chamber mixer, those of us whose lives are not dedicated to making money / selling a product or service are really attending an event that is meant for someone else.  While the Chamber / LinkedIn is inviting us to be there, it’s not really aimed at our needs and our ways of working together. That doesn’t mean it is not a good place to find people – it is absolutely great for that. It just has a different sort of “feel” than many Community Benefit Leaders are used to.

If anyone has used LinkedIn a lot and has different ways of explaining just what it is, what it feels like, what someone can expect – especially if you disagree with my assessment – please post in the comments. I would love this to be a resource for folks!

In the second post in this series, you’ll find info about Twitter (where I have been spending a lot of my time lately). That link is here. And then on Friday, we’ll wrap up with Facebook.

In the meantime, if you are not already linked to me, just click the buttons on the right of this page, and let’s connect in the Social Media world!

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