Are you using Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter differently?

*Updated post with great comments by Heather Rasley and Dean Kakridas, both of whom said much more in 3 paragraphs than I did in one whole blog post.

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How are you using these tools, and what value do you get from them?

Recently something struck me as I was checking out Facebook in the morning. One of my friends wrote a note for a party he was having, and I left a somewhat raunchy comment (joking of course). Immediately after that I switched over to Twitter, and tweeted a couple of very professional sounding comments and links.

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My typical activity on Facebook / Twitter

It struck me how extremely different my use cases have become on Facebook and Twitter. You can argue that Twitter is a subset of Facebook, but the different social and privacy dynamics has made my behavior on each platform very different. This sparked off a tweet where I asked the following:

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Vastly different use cases for me. Is it the same for you?

From the replies, it seems like I am certainly not alone. Most of my friends seemed to have distinctively different use cases for each of these platforms. As such, is the whole Facebook vs. Twitter discussion misguided?

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How about you?

As such, would like to open this up to everyone, and please leave a comment and share your insight on the following questions!

  • How do you use each of these platforms?
  • What unique value are you getting out of each of them?
  • How do you see your usage of these tools evolving?
  • In your usage behavior, is Twitter replacing Facebook, or does it replacing Linkedin?

All right folks, looking forward to your great comments! As usual, we will try to reply to every comment of yours. =)

Make sure you see all the comments here!


Featured Comment by Heather Rasley

They’re vastly different platforms with vastly different goals. Here’s how I use each:

Facebook: Have been on it since undergrad, and have a large network. It was once more important to me, but now I don’t check in too often and don’t take it seriously.

Sometimes I’ll have wall exchanges with friends, which are almost exclusively based on inside jokes. Status updates are rarely related to anything I’m actually doing. I’ll add someone new when I meet them, if only to feel more “connected.”

Sometimes I’ll send messages to folks I don’t have other contact info for. It’s great for rekindling old/lost connections. I don’t share anything there (or anywhere) that I would be ashamed of.

LinkedIn: Purely professional, and not used often. Very rarely send messages or take part in other social activity, aside from adding new coworkers / associates / friends to my network and replying to any requests sent to me. Any actions I take there are explicitly toward the end of building my professional persona / furthering my career. To me, it feels cold. Interactions there typically aren’t very rich.

Twitter: Used for a blend of personal/social and professional use. I’m highly aware of the public and repostable nature of my tweets.

Content posted varies from where I am at the moment, to work-related links, to tweets about personal projects, to quotes and other links that I personally enjoy. I like it because it’s malleable.

I think people tend to understand that what they’re seeing is a glimpse of me as an entire person. @s and DMs are effective for quick, asynchronous communication between acquaintances.

I’ve met lots of new people in the real world through Twitter (”Oh, you like that, too? Let’s meet.” “Oh, you’re there, too? Let’s meet.”)

Featured Comment By Dean Kakridas

Here is how I currently utlize the ‘Big 3′:

Facebook: ‘rekindling and repurposing the past’.

Primarily used with close friends, family and colleagues I interface or have interfaced with in the physical world.

Twitter: ‘present day by day social stimulus for personal and professional betterment.’

Here, I am actively looking for key inputs to drive my lifestyle design while reciprocating the same with friends and followers.

LinkedIn: ‘all about future interactions with people and parts unknown‘.

This is the shiny and professional looking profile that stays consistent and concrete–hopefully a buoy and beacon for perpetual professional good standing and hope for financial prosperity.

So past, present and future aspects of my life are well served by these three bastions of digital social connectedness.

Category: AskTwitter

  • Twitter to me is pure energy, peer to peer passionate knowledge sharing in 140 chars, a time saver because the best content bubbles up recommended by somebody in your network (not necessarily somebody you know).
    I use it to keep up with social media trends, discover new tools, promote mine and somebody else's work. Every Retweet is like a vote of confidence to a piece of content. If I like it, I pass it to my followers.
    I don't follow anybody, only those users who I believe I can learn something from.
    I learn so much from Twitter that missing the stream is like missing out on possible important conversations. That's why I prefer to keep my number of friends low.

    Facebook is about personal relationships with people I've met, I know or I've had some sort of relationship. I don't accept any friend unless we had some sort of interaction. Facebook is just myself, like being at home.

    LinkedIn is pure business. I'm probably not taking full advantage of it. It's a professional discovery tool but a litle cold. It's the place to be politically correct, quite corporate feeling.
  • mingyeow
    Hi Paolo, thanks for the great comments! Would you say that the following points summarize what you were expressing in your comments?

    - Twitter: Broadcasting good content to a lot of people (who have connected to you for both professional and personal reasons). There is the potential of discovering both great people, and also being discovered by others, whether it is in terms of them replying to you, or whether it is in terms of a RT.

    - Facebook: Narrowcasting personal content to a small segment of people (whom you are likely to know or met)

    - LinkedIn: Rarely changing public face which you maintain as clean as possible (in case some one looks at it for professional reasons)

    The fundamental reasons for these vastly different behaviors are really because of the nature of the network, the speed of interactions, and searchability of what you write poses very different rewards, costs and risks of communicating.

    Would you say that is a reasonable summary? Would love to know what you think!
  • Thanks for the blog you have made me think !

    I certainly use the three in different ways:-

    Facebook - Almost entirely personal, friends and family. I find it great to keep in contact and be aware of what is going on in their lives. I am selective about who I accept as a friend on FB, refusing anyone I do not know. I have a couple of business contacts on there, but to be honest there is no interaction and its a waste really, it just causes clutter in the Live or Home feed.

    Twitter: I am still having a personal debate about whether a Personal or Corporate account is better. So far I have both, and use them in different ways. The Corporate account is updates from my blog. I follow people in the industry I am in and receive a rich source of information from them. The personal account is linked via Friend Feed to Facebook,Digg,Backtype etc.. and I also post Likes, Comments and the occasional random update. The jury is still out on this one, but its new thats ok. I watch RSS feeds of searches for my industry to see whats being talked about by clients, prospects and competitors and find this very useful.

    Linked In : I am quite a fan of linked in. Its totally professional and business orientated. I interact in discussions, groups, polls and do status updates. I get good information and if I want to contact someone I can find them for sure if they are on it. I make it a policy to ask for a connection to any business contact I get. I still need to get more comfortable with what Linked In can do, it is not quite as easy as the other two.

    So tahts my two cents worth. For sure all three used differently for different reasons. I have to manage the time I spend on them for sure, it can get too much !
  • mingyeow
    Hi Phil! I really like the insights you provided, especially since it is a good divergence from the big Twitter fans. I am summarizing the blog posting, so would you say that these points are a good reflection of your thoughts?

    (slightly dense now, but looking to make them more readable)

    Facebook: Most folks seem to see FB as a way to post personal content to a small segment of people (whom you are likely to know or met) - They tend to be more open with posting personal, less "generally interesting" comments, because they know folks reading it are likely to be friends. Furthermore, interactions on FB are not broadcasted like Twitter, so that again reduces barriers to posting personal stuff.

    Twitter: Most folks use Twitter as a way to broadcast good content to a lot of people (who have connected to them for both professional and personal reasons). They use it to discover and learn from great people w/o need to "know them", while seeking to get discovered by others as well.

    On twitter, they tend to be more careful about posting personal stuff, both because of 1) privacy concerns and because 2) the broadcast medium infers that they have a "responsibility" to keep it relevant for everyone about who is likely to read it.

    LinkedIn: Most twitterers seem to think that it is too static, due to the barriers imposed on communicating on the platform+ a rarely changing public face which you maintain as clean as possible.

    However, for many other professionals who do not require the full blown interactive nature of Twitter, Linkedin is proving to be useful with the emergence of polls, groups, QnA.
  • Hi, Yes I think that sumarises nicely, although I have been adding Facebook Status updates to my twitter account ( but not any other facebook activity ) and also using FriendFeed to update twitter from various sources inlcuidng facebook.
  • jeanneendo
    I use twitter & Facebook but not LinkedIn.

    I like twitter more and more all the time. Forces me to be concise. (A big plus for me for saving time). New options being added all the time (need to get caught up on how to use them... like using twitter for conference and when to use hash # marks in twitter msgs).

    Facebook has its moments but I can get bogged down in it time-wise (a huge minus)! So many screens, so many messages to navigate through to get to what I'm looking for (don't have time to read all of the random stuff on FB... like who scored what on which Facebook game)...

    Also FB tends to have a fair # of juvenile messages and taking time to wade though those gets on my nerves. All that flipping screen to screen gets annoying too.

    I needed some time to get used to twitter when I first started with it but I like it more and more as time goes on.

    I've been starting to notice more and more ways to use it.

    Jeanne
  • annemai
    Like so many others noted here, I do use Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn differently but it is driven in equal part by who is on each of these "social" networks and what each platform enables.

    Facebook: This is my personal life. While people from my business side of life have "friended" me, the privacy controls enable me to keep them (hopefully) at professional arms distance. My children were the first on Facebook -- and hence I joined too as an initially concerned, overprotective mother (I clearly read too many stories of cyber friendships that went awry). Now, my children have moved on to other platforms but increasingly my friends (over 40) are joining. It has proved an effective way to gather friends for impromptu parties or outings as well as for sharing info via links.

    LinkedIn: In the early days, I used it to keep in touch with people I enjoyed working with but whom I didn't truly consider as close personal friends. In today's economic environment -- as well as I'm sure the growing trend to participate in social networks -- initial in-person meetings inevitably result in a request to join someone's network on LinkedIn. I usually oblige out of politeness and because there really isn't much I do on there. My network generally does not contain my personal friends -- with some exceptions -- since we help each out with business contacts/referrals, the "old fashioned" way via phone and email. I find much of what my professional contacts do on LinkedIn borders on questionable professional behavior -- e.g., overstating their CV, posting gratuitous mutual admiration recommendations -- and for a long time I tended not to visit the site often. The launch of LinkedIn groups though has drawn me back in. Some groups are actually interesting and helpful and not full of folks shamelessly self-promoting. The link to wordpress blogs is also good.

    Twitter: Other than a handful of friends, everyone I follow is either a professional acquaintance or someone I would like to be professionally acquainted with. I follow them because they are smart and I learn something from them almost every day. The ones I don't learn from, I stop following. Until the platform is more user friendly and enables a greater range of privacy controls, I doubt I will ever use it for anything other than professional growth.
  • mingyeow
    Hi Anne, it is great to hear about how your use cases for FB, Twitter and LinkedIn has evolved. If i may summarize - FB is for keeping in touch with a tight personal circle, LinkedIn lost its appeal due to the most common usage of being a public resume, but is proving to be useful somewhat after the emergence of groups and all. Twitter is a place for learning from great people on a professional basis. Is this the right summary?
  • annemai
    Yes; you got it
  • I use facebook as a very general social networking site mainly to connect with old friends and to stay up with new friends.

    I use twitter to stay up to date on certain people i like to follow also to keep up with some of my more tech savvy friends.

    And linked in i use strictly for professional contacts.
  • mingyeow
    Hi Adam!
    Curious: "stay up to date on certain people i like to follow" - what profile
    are the people you like to follow? High profile folks/celebrities, or just
    smart people in your industry?
  • JohnCVermont
    I use FaceBook, LinkedIn & Twitter in very much the same way as Adam.

    FaceBook - I use mostly for maintaining personal relationships with friends, colleagues, and family. I do not discuss technical or professional matters on FB.

    LinkedIn - Strictly professional but I find the interface and services quite stilted and difficult to use effectively. Again, LinkedIn is just for business.

    Twitter - I am a recent adopter of Twitter. It reminds me of IM in the very late 90s and 2000s with my technical colleagues. Obviously, more than that and different because I often interact with others I have never met. I am more causal on Twitter than LinkedIn, perhaps FaceBook. I tend to follow technical folks to get a sense of what is occurring. I tweet in a stream of consciousness but try to be informative and try avoid being self-indulgent .

    In summary, all three services I use quite differently, for different reasons and with different expectations.
  • Millie
    the same happens to me
    Each platform has completely different people.
  • I use twitter as a 'stream of consciousness' tool - posting whatever I'm thinking about or working on (healthcare during the day and food the rest of the time)

    I tend to use facebook for "real world" friends. Its not my favorite site, but my non-techy friends and family use it a lot so its a good way do share pictures with them.

    To be frank, I am not a fan of Linked In - I may be missing the boat, but I prefer to do my networking the old fashioned way, its more authentic and genuine
  • mingyeow
    how does the fact that Twitter is public vs Facebook is private change your
    behavior?
  • good question - for mostly professional reasons I am mindful of what I post on twitter, but I do tend to be pretty casual there.
    if anything, I am more guarded on facebook b/c I actually know the people I am interacting with
  • My twitter updates automatically on my Facebook status... and my blog, http://iChilly.com, updates automatically on my LinkdIn.

    I try to streamline my social networking as efficiently as possible.
  • mingyeow
    how about your network you maintain in there? Say... will you post up
    personal photos/stuff in Twitter?
    M
  • JenHarris
    I am just now starting to add my Tweeple to my FB account. I honestly want to get to know them better on Twitter first, then I can put them into my more personal side of FB.
    LI is very much who you know & who they know. I love the Q&A of LI & use it to gather information quite often.
    I think LI has helped my visibility in trying to find a new job since my blog is displayed as well as my Twitter URL. People can link to "me" from one page & then hire me based on that info I provide.
    But all three are essential.
  • mingyeow
    Hi Jen - curious: Do you think Twitter might replace Linkedin at some point?
    1) People are already increasingly asking questions on Twitter
    2) Communication on Twitter is a lot easier than communication on LinkedIn
  • David
    The are totally different. I don't think I could ever combine the Twitter and Facebook but I could combine the Facebook and LinkedIn profiles .
  • mingyeow
    Interesting - does that mean you use facebook for professional purposes too?
    How about combining the Linkedin and Twitter account?

    M
  • pthakar23
    I use Facebook to get a snapshot of what's happening with friends I don't see often. Twitter is just now becoming part of my communication vocabulary so I'll let you know in a few weeks!
  • JamesStark
    I know too many close relatives and friends on Facebook to be comfortable updating my status on there.

    As not as many people are using Twitter I can update a lot more.
  • mingyeow
    Hi James! That is interesting - you mean "not a lot of your close
    relatives" are using Twitter right? How will that change as they get onto
    Twitter?
  • JamesStark
    Hi Ming. If my close relatives had Twitter accounts and regularly used them I don't think I would see the need to change my posting habits. They'd merely be doing the same as me.

    The fact that you can do a lot more (rather pointless) activities on Facebook is perhaps another reason why I don't see it fit to fill in the status updates on there. The Selective Twitter app is added in case I change my mind though.

    J.
  • mingyeow
    "Do a lot more (rather pointless) activities on Facebook"

    Interesting - so you think these pointless activities detract or add to the
    facebook experience?
  • JamesStark
    They add to the experience. As a musician I see social networking as a useful tool to promote myself on one side, and a collection of websites without any aim on the other. All personal use is classified under this.

    How do you post so quickly and often to everyone? Are you a very cleverly written AI bot? ;)
  • mingyeow
    TRUST ME: if i was a cleverly written bot, google will be out of business in
    a few seconds. =)

    Unfortunately, i just really like all the comments being posted, so i try to
    reply. But it gets undoable after the 100 comment mark. =P
  • bcole39
    I use FaceBook for social networking. Twitter for general networking and linkdin for business connections.
  • mingyeow
    Hi there! Do you mind sharing what "general networking" means? What kind of
    connections have you been able to build on Twitter so far?
  • bcole39
    General networking to me means to network not only with those who are in the same field as me, but also those in fields in which I have an interest. Example, my field is local church work, however I have an interest in writing for publication. Therefore I've connected with writers, publishers & agents. Also connected with those in itinerant ministries, leadership training, music, para-church, etc.
  • AlliFlowers
    I use Facebook to connect with people from my past, and see photos posted by a few relatives. Beyond that, I've found no real use to FB.

    Twitter, OTOH, I am glued to for both social and professional networking. I tweet all night and all weekend long.

    I have Linkdin, but I'm honestly not sure why.
  • mingyeow
    Hi Alli - do you mind sharing what type of connections you have built on
    Twitter, both social and professional?
  • AlliFlowers
    Sure! I have connections with teachers across the globe, and bloggers/podcasters with whom I work/collaborate when not teaching. I'm also connected to a number of local people (several of whom I've now met IRL), and friends I've picked up along the way who are also interested in social networking.
  • AlliFlowers
    Oh...I also have my Twitter status post to FB and my blog (http://justanothergeeksite.com), much to the chagrin of my son who feels I do too much self-promoting.
  • I actually find that twitter and facebook are both a sort of mixture for me, while i do have many aspects of using both which are quite professional, i do find at times i will drop out of professional moment when making a comment or reply, at times. However for the most part my comments and replies are almost all fairly acceptable from either note.

    I From the respect that i know people are watching what i am doing from both a personal and professional level, does mean i take a little more not on what i may post, but both are social media and both allow me to connect with friends and business associates, so it is all intermingled anyway.
  • Falito
    Facebook is for keeping friends up to date... Twitter is more business & info oriented.
  • mingyeow
    Hi Falito - curious: Do you find your usage of Twitter overlapping with your
    usage of Linkedin, especially since you say that it is more biz and info
    oriented?
    M
  • I wouldn't say I "use" them differently -- as I have my Twitter posts auto-update my Facebook status -- but certainly the comments and replies on either can go in different directions.
  • I only use LinkedIn for actual business use. I try to keep my profile professional and tend to link to people I know well. With Twitter its much more social, and I'll connect with people from very diverse backgrounds.
  • mingyeow
    Hi Mike! Do you feel that your usage of Twitter is overlapping with your
    usage of Linkedin?
    M
  • martiradonna
    twitter is like sms'ing to a bunch of friends not necessarily reflecting a professional interest
    i find somewhat more amusing, light and captivating than fb
  • I use Facebook as my core social networking platform.

    Twitter is where I feel I can express myself more freely; it's a great way to give and receive tidbits of info, which usually sends me on an indefinite chain of clicking leading to new and interesting corners of the interwebs :)
  • mingyeow
    Hi Cait! Does that mean that FB is more for friends, which naturally leads
    to a more it being a more "constrained" information source, especially when
    compared to Twitter, which is much more diverse?
  • I'm using the twitter plugin on Facebook to automatically post my Twitter posts as Facebook status updates. I don't want to be using multiple applications for simple status updates. I have nothing to hide from a 'status update' point of view so that's fine.

    But I do let loose with comments and wall writing on Facebook as I know Twitterinos wont be seeing that.

    I've never really seen the value of Linkedin as my career involves relationships with people I interact with socially (facebook, twitter, flickr).
  • mingyeow
    Hi Scott,
    That is a great comment: "As my career involves relationships with people
    I interact with socially (facebook, twitter, flickr)." - does that mean
    Linkedin is fundamentally limited because of the lack of personal context?

    Also, it seems like what you are saying the following: messages is a one
    way street from Twitter to FB, but not from FB to Twitter because they are
    too private?

    M
  • kirsten
    "does that mean
    Linkedin is fundamentally limited because of the lack of personal context?"

    I would agree with that. I'm a Realtor and social connection and relationship building is extremely important. I use Facebook as my main platform for building friendships that can turn into future business as well as maintaining friendships with out of area friends and family.

    For me, Twitter feeds into that, as my tweets update my FB status. Twitter is also a way for me to make connections with other local people who I don't yet know. When I know them well enough, I can move them over to FB to deepen the relationship and continue to build trust and rapport.
  • I have never 'gotten' linkedin, but I'm on it. I now use twitter to connect with other professionals for collaboration, find out what's going on in the world, and reaching beyond geography. I use facebook for friends mostly, and feel shy about networking on that site.

    Kara
    @karasorensen
    http://blog.thefoodcravingsolution.com
  • mingyeow
    Hi Kara! So you feel shy about networking on Facebook, while you feel that
    Twitter is great for connecting with others.
    What is the problem with Linkedin in terms of networking? Issit because it
    is hard to contact people, or because a static profile says very little
    about an individual?

    M
  • AndrewTaylor
    I have (some of) my tweets syndicated to Facebook for what I choose to term the 'benefit' of my Twitterless friends, but I wouldn't reply to a status on Facebook unless I knew the person. Facebook is like being in a shop; you talk to people you know. Twitter is more like a bar: you can talk to anyone who's there and they won't think it odd.

    Facebook is just my friends, so I like to know I haven't missed too much on that. If I miss a week's Twitter updates I won't bother to look for them. It's just idle bar chat; who cares? Anything I need to know will be replicated elsewhere.

    I think the difference is subtle, but it's significant enough that combining them well would be nigh-on impossible. That said, any change to something that everyone uses differently is bound t be unpopular.
  • My Facebook status is linked with my Twitter (by Facebook Twitter App.). However, most of my mates use Facebook status and they might not know Twitter.
  • dnom
    twitter is transient....like an AIM away message. a facebook status is much more permanent

    twitter has nothing to do with linked in, other than creating and embellishing relationships you may make there

    if one replaced the other, you'd likely get far less ppl using them
  • I use facebook for personal interactions to exchange photos/video with family and friends, linked-in for professional connections, and Twitter to share space tidbits with followers. By following others on Twitter, I've learned more about the where to go for information and what's hot in social networking trends. Twitter is a lifeline to conversations going on outside my professional/personal network. Can't get enough!
  • My Twitter auto-updates Facebook status as well. My blog www.armeda.com auto-updates to LinkedIn, sends a tweet in turn updating Twitter and Facebook within minutes. I can update from anywhere, including my iPhone which has apps for all of the above including the Wordpress app.

    Facebook has become the MySpace of old, connections are typically family, friends and folks I have known for years but don't generally speak with anymore. Twitter is just an awesome power, it has enabled me to gain large exposure for my work, design, and development involvements.
  • I am using all three in really different ways. If you were to look at a euler diagram of my linkedin contacts/facebook friends/twitter followers, you would see three circles with almost no overlap. I'm not comfortable showing my facebook wall to 95% of my linkedin connections and I don't think my twitter followers would be interested.
  • Guest
    How do you use each of these platforms?
    Very separate from each other. And long may that train of though continue.

    What unique value are you getting out of each of them?
    Facebook is like fancy contact address book with pictures. Twitter, in all it's simplicity, is a state of mind.

    How do you see your usage of these tools evolving?
    None. At all. Period.

    In your usage behaviour, is Twitter replacing Facebook, or does it replacing Linkedin?
    My original intention was to join Twitter and leave Facebook's mundanity (or the Mun'day'lity that Facebook has become) To answer your question, while I still need to keep worldwide friends close at hand, Facebook helps, but it's just a matter of time, and those 'friends' will find Twitter's simplicity 'is in your way of thinking'.
  • Twitter is used to keep my tach-savvy friends / new tweeps I have met via the service up to date with my life, thoughts, work, and random a.d.d.-infused musings as well as for link posting. Facebook status is updated via twitter but is much more of a social network for me to keep up with my buddies, while LinkedIn is strictly professional.
  • Laura_N
    I will just echo what AlliFlowers said. The only reason I even have a Facebook account is that I am curious about all forms of social media. As it turns out, I have connected with old friends and distant relatives on there. Twitter is a fabulous listening tool for me, and once I build my network a bit larger, I know I will be able to "crowdsource" answers to interesting questions as well. LinkedIn is kind of an obligatory thing in case anyone needs to look me up or if I ever end up job hunting again.
  • Here's my take on the big three:
    - LinkedIn is a suit-and-tie-job-interview-credentials-corporate-meeting kind of place
    - Twitter is a conference-semi-formal-social-business-networking-and-helping-others kind of place
    - Facebook is a personal / family / friends / buddies let-it-all-hang-out kind of place (though I'll confess, I run two FB accounts, one for purely personal friends/family, and one for acquaintances and friendly work colleagues and a little networking/sharing)
  • Steve Noble has a great page explaining how he uses each major social network, differently: http://snoble.net/.

    I liked how he delineates each site. I tried to do the same thing. I'd love to know what you think.
    http://www.nooozeguy.com/social-networks/
    -Josh
  • Twitter for me serves as a back-channel of like-minded bloggers.

    Facebook is reserved for people I actually know (or at least have met a couple of times).

    And I have to admit that LinkedIn hasn't really started paying off for me yet, maybe because I'm not actively seeking employment right now?
  • I use facebook purely for keeping up with school friends.

    LinkedIn is purely for work connections.

    Twitter is for the random followers I have and other enthusiastic twitter'ers
  • I use Facebook mainly for photos and setting up events and groups with friends. Also, I use it to catch up on stuff friends are up to. It's something I use from time to time and in a more general sense.

    Twitter I'm on more often now, and do all my status updates there and a lot of my friends have cut back on status updates on FB and stuck to Twitter. I think it helps that on Twitter you don't miss updates because you can flip back through older stuff, while on Facebook's home page you tend to miss a lot of stuff.

    As far as LinkedIn, I've never heard of it before today. =/
  • I do use all three very differently. I tend to use Facebook for purely personal use with friends.. I like having a private place to hang out with friends and family, where I don't have to be as careful about what I say that may be misinterpreted by a business acquaintance. On the contrary, I use LinkedIn for all business contacts, current and past. I stay up to date with business associates and search for business opportunities as well. As for Twitter, it's a blend of both business and personal, but more on the business side again. With Twitter I look to connect with people who share similar interests, both business and pleasure. I like to follow smart people, who I can learn from and share ideas. Also, I like to share interesting articles with those who follow me as well. And, I will use Twitter to share blog posts I write so the info is timely.
  • You know, I don't have a Facebook page as I regularly talk (read: text, IM, call) with those important to me. I love Twitter for the "cocktail party" feel. You know, just random conversations in a big room with a lot of people.
    I use LinkedIn to direct people to my professional life. Weirdly, my professional and personal lives rarely interact. I have friendsand collegues, and both are seperate so I never have crossover.
    Not sure what all that means, but there you go.
  • Jamie
    Facebook is strictly personal/friends stuff for me. I'm only just starting out on Twitter, but will be using it for more of a mix..tech news especially.
  • Since you're asking HOW I USE those three social networking sites, my answers couldn't be more different.

    Facebook is the after-hours party, where I maintain a 4+ year-old profile because it is an easy way to keep in touch with friends and extended family, and also a quick way to wish someone birthday greetings with the click of a button. I don't use FB as much as it uses me; if my friends weren't on it, nor would I.

    LinkedIn is the Chamber of Commerce, where I build and maintain business relationships, ask questions, answer questions, and become a better person.

    Twitter is the fill-in-the-blank-description, where I network, collaborate, and chit-chat, in that order; with chit-chat taking 10% of my time. You can see what other people say at http://ariwriter.com/2008/12/14-ways-to-describ...
  • I have to say, I agree with Ari...almost to the T. Of course, I'm always curious to hear about new ways folks are using each of these platforms. Then there is the blog...that is where I start conversations. How about you?
  • mingyeow
    The interesting thing is how people are using Twitter as a way to guide
    attention into their blog. There is a certain outreach ability that Twitter
    has that blogs do not have.
    Also, it is becoming clear that Twitter seems to be replacing Linkedin much
    more than it is replacing Facebook - make sense?
  • If I click into your Twitter profile, I don't know who you are. It doesn't matter how people are subscribed to your feed or you to theirs. Your profile and your tweets provide me a glimpse into who you are, but for networking purposes, I would see a larger slice in LinkedIn. I would see an even-larger slice on your blog and the interactivity between you and any comments that are posted.

    If you're using Twitter or LinkedIn, I assume you're also on Facebook; but I don't care to see your pictures or anything like that. Facebook also requires mutual friendship, and if I'm looking to network, I don't need to be your friend.
  • mingyeow
    Hi Ari - I am summarizing the blog posting, so would you say that these points are a good reflection of your thoughts?

    Facebook: Most folks seem to see FB as a way to post personal content to a small segment of people (whom you are likely to know or met) - They tend to be more open with posting personal, less "generally interesting" comments, because they know folks reading it are likely to be friends.

    Furthermore, interactions on FB are not broadcasted like Twitter, so that again reduces barriers to posting personal stuff.

    Twitter: Most folks use Twitter as a way to broadcast good content to a lot of people (who have connected to them for both professional and personal reasons). They use it to discover and learn from great people w/o need to "know them", while seeking to get discovered by others as well.

    On twitter, they tend to be more careful about posting personal stuff, both because of 1) privacy concerns and because 2) the broadcast medium infers that they have a "responsibility" to keep it relevant for everyone about who is likely to read it.

    LinkedIn: Most twitterers seem to think that it is too static, due to the barriers imposed on communicating on the platform+ a rarely changing public face which you maintain as clean as possible. Also, people tend to think that Linkedin is fundamentally limited because of the lack of personal context and interactions

    However, for many other professionals who do not require the full blown interactive nature of Twitter, Linkedin is proving to be more useful than Twitter with the emergence of polls, groups, QnA.
  • If you're asking if that summary reflects me, the answer is no. Some does, some does not.

    I'd edit my part that I don't use Twitter as a broadcasting tool but as a sharing tool. It's not about broadcasting information, but replying and retweeting. But that's me. I'd argue for communication in lieu of broadcast.

    Facebook and LinkedIn, for the most part, could be likened to intranets as they're behind the firewall; moreso with Facebook. I say this from the perspective both allow friends/connections only if mutual. Twitter doesn't necessitate mutual.
  • Yes, different forums for different points of view. I am on facebook, and I actually don't accept all the requests I get, I if cannot sit there and tell you a joke without offending you, then how close are we? A lot of humor comes from context, and if we aren't that close you are no FB friend of mine.

    LinkedIn is purely for professional contacts. The groups, forums, and articles are not that strong. It is great for asking professional questions. Anytime I have pinged my contacts or groups, I usually get 3 or 4 responses within a day or 2.

    Twitter is the place people share ideas, links, updates and sometimes jokes. I find most of the content I need to read from the respectable people I follow here. That way I am not subscribing to 90 blogs. It is hard to find time in the day to scan vast amounts of content, digest it, and formulate opinions if that is not necessarily your day job (or you have a family). I also use it to direct followers to new content on my blog.

    Yammer is relatively new, but it can have a great impact. Sapient (the company I got laid off from on Thursday) is a global organization with 6500 people spread across germany, London, Sweden, India and all over the US. Sharing ideas that are company specific while being somewhat secure is great. Within the short time people started using it, we were able to connect in ways email and the intranet could not allow.

    Lastly my blog (http://blog.brown-paper.net) is the place I pull it all together. My ideas about my job, social media interactions, rants and opinions. From all other avenues I direct people here for the more in depth context.

    With so many networks, it was getting hard to keep up. So I discovered ping.fm. It is a life saver! You can add it as an AIM buddy (which is always open in my case) and just instant message the service or services you want to post to. For instance I created a tag called "#tweets" and it will only update my twitter, and Yammer. Another called "#status" will post to FB and linkedIn. You can also hit the services directly (@ym, @tw, fb, etc).

    Cheers!
    Marc

    http://blog.brown-paper.net
    http://www.twitter.com/mvannorden
  • mingyeow
    Hey Marc, thanks a lot for your indepth comments!
    I am very curious here - it seems that you believe facebook is more for
    friends, twitter is great for information collection, while Linkedin's
    strongest point is their Q&A.

    In that case, do you foresee twitter replacing certain use cases of
    Linkedin?

    Lastly, how much of your traffic for your blog comes from Twitter?
  • No problem, I am glad you appreciate it. To answer your questions, I don't see Twitter overtaking the functions of LinkedIn fro a couple of reasons. I see LinkedIn purely for professional development and the user content is targeted as such. The format in which responses are received are not in well formatted manner on twitter. Twitter feedback is represented in a non-relational manner. Unless you post content with a tag. And you have to search for it. Threaded content (much like on LinkedIn) groups questions, answers, and follow up questions in a digestible manner.

    Twitter allows you to point to information sources (among other uses) but if you have an opinion on that content more than the 140 char. you will be posting it somewhere else. And then maybe broadcasting that opinion on twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook etc..

    A good amount of traffic is driven thru twitter, which in tern drives FB (thru status) and LinkedIn. The end goal would be to get to people appreciate your content and subscribe, making the task of broadcasting not necessary.
  • heather_r
    They're vastly different platforms with vastly different goals. Here's how I use each:

    Facebook: Have been on it since undergrad, and have a large network. It was once more important to me, but now I don't check in too often and don't take it seriously. Sometimes I'll have wall exchanges with friends, which are almost exclusively based on inside jokes. Status updates are rarely related to anything I'm actually doing. I'll add someone new when I meet them, if only to feel more "connected." Sometimes I'll send messages to folks I don't have other contact info for. It's great for rekindling old/lost connections. I don't share anything there (or anywhere) that I would be ashamed of.

    LinkedIn: Purely professional, and not used often. Very rarely send messages or take part in other social activity, aside from adding new coworkers / associates / friends to my network and replying to any requests sent to me. Any actions I take there are explicitly toward the end of building my professional persona / furthering my career. To me, it feels cold. Interactions there typically aren't very rich.

    Twitter: Used for a blend of personal/social and professional use. I'm highly aware of the public and repostable nature of my tweets. Content posted varies from where I am at the moment, to work-related links, to tweets about personal projects, to quotes and other links that I personally enjoy. I like it because it's malleable. I think people tend to understand that what they're seeing is a glimpse of me as an entire person. @s and DMs are effective for quick, asynchronous communication between acquaintances. I've met lots of new people in the real world through Twitter ("Oh, you like that, too? Let's meet." "Oh, you're there, too? Let's meet.")
  • mingyeow
    Hi Heather - I am featuring your comment. There are lots of great insights
    hidden in the few short paragraphs you have submitted:

    Great stuff, and thanks for sharing!

    FB:

    - Don't check in too often and don't take it seriously.
    - Sometimes I'll have wall exchanges with friends, which are almost
    exclusively based on inside jokes.
    - Status updates are rarely related to anything I'm actually doing.

    Linkedin

    - Very rarely send messages or take part in other social activity
    - Any actions I take there are explicitly toward the end of building my
    professional persona / furthering my career.
    - To me, it feels cold. Interactions there typically aren't very rich


    Twitter

    - Highly aware of the public and repostable nature of my tweets.
    - I think people tend to understand that what they're seeing is a glimpse
    of me as an entire person.
    - I've met lots of new people in the real world through Twitter ("Oh, you
    like that, too? Let's meet." "Oh, you're there, too? Let's meet.")
  • heather_r
    Thank you! I spend perhaps too much time thinking about these things, but I deem it highly important. Our reputations as actors on social networks are becoming increasingly synonymous with our reputations as individuals, employees, and friends. It didn't always work in quite that way, but the new pattern is clear, and very much worth talking about.
  • mingyeow
    yup! let me know if you want me to link to anything on the blog. (your
    comment is up already btw)
  • mingyeow
    interesting - you work at wordpress! I know the folks at Polaris Ventures -
    they are your funders right?
    M
  • heather_r
    Automattic received funding from four groups in early 2008, and Polaris Ventures was among those. This article has some more details: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/23/business/medi...
  • Tamera
    Facebook and MySpace are random people I "know" and they are keeping in touch via that medium.

    Twitter is to talk to people, socialize, keep up with toing sin the world.

    Linkdin not really using, too many coporate types on there monitoring your every move.

    My website and blog, that is where it is all at!
  • mingyeow
    Hi Tamera - that is interesting! So you are saying that Facebook is more
    "random" than Twitter? Typically it would be the other way round, wun it? =)
    And yup, your personal website and blog is always going to be the highest
    priority - is that right?
  • Mark
    I use twitter in exactly the same way as Facebook status updates, and in fact have linked the two.
  • I've pondered this same point for my own usage of Facebook and Twitter. I usually use Twitter (@timbergman) for quick updates and thoughts of this or that. I tend to be a little less open on Facebook. I'm not certain why, but I find that I do treat them differently.
  • mingyeow
    "Tend to be a little less open on Facebook" - that is different from quite a
    few other folks, who say that they are less open on Twitter because it is
    more public than Facebook. Would you say that is a factor?
  • Ben Duffy
    I agree whole-heartedly. My tweets auto update FB status and that's cool with me. I do get more personal in FB, keep things higher minded with Twitter and still can't figure out why I need to bother with Linkedin. Linked really annoyed me with payment requests to email someone in my network. This may have changed but I haven't found a good reason to bother with it.

    Twitter is a great place to find relevant chatter. I really enjoy digging through twitscoop to see what's up and to find relevant tweets to a particular suject that I'm interested in.

    I'm also not the most extroverted person, never really kept a journal and am surprised at the level of enjoyment I find from Twitter.
  • mingyeow
    I do get more personal in FB> Does the private / friends nature of FB have
    anything to do with that?

    Keep things higher minded with Twitter
  • In the case of social networking I find that function defines community. Facebook has features that let you connect with people from high school, college, and work (on the Info tab of your profile), and to identify people as relatives. Facebook allows you to upload photos and to connect with people as "friends." Twitter, on the other hand, is much a simpler interface with respect to functionality and the concept of "follow" is less personal compared to "friend" on Facebook. So there is definitely a difference in experience for the average user between Facebook and Twitter. And since there is a difference, it follows that a person's written expressions on each site would also different.

    I use the term "average user" above intentionally. I believe that if you are in the realm of celebrity status with an extremely large community the difference between "follow" and "friend" is significantly less meaningful since the purpose is to communicate on a broad scale reaching the largest volume of people possible.

    So if you are an "average user" there is certainly a difference between Facebook and Twitter and the difference is defined by the functionality that allows you to construct your community.

    Sal.
  • mingyeow
    Hi Saieva!

    Can I express your perspective this way?

    FB - more private / friends-oriented => behavior is simultaneously more
    personal and open.

    Twitter - public / people you know less about => behavior is more cautious,
    and more professional.

    Twitterers seem to express often that Linkedin is often much too
    one-dimensional for their liking => do you agree?
  • Yes, I concur with your summary about FB and Twitter. Regarding LinkedIn, again it is another example of functionality defining community. For LinkedIn the community developed around connecting with work colleagues and although they have expanded that functionality over the years the primary theme for LinkedIn has remained work oriented connections. (A similar statement can be made for classmates.com.) Twitter's functionality remains "simple" and not specifically tied to a specific theme which gives people more access to create a broader community.
  • Facebook's walled community makes it easier for people to be more personal and open. By actively choosing your audience, you feel more conformable being… well, comfortable. Twitter isn't intended for such privacy (DM's & restricted tweets aside), and thus it's far more likely to be treated with some level of caution. LinkedIn is as professional as it gets online. It's a place where you basically say, "I'm here to be professional."

    That said… I think if you have a range from professional to casual, LinkedIn and Facebook sit at the extremes, with twitter still finding itself in the grey area in between.
  • mingyeow
    Can I express your perspective this way?

    FB - more private / friends-oriented => behavior is simultaneously more
    personal and open.

    Twitter - public / people you know less about => behavior is more cautious,
    and more professional.

    Twitterers seem to express often that Linkedin is often much too
    one-dimensional for their liking => do you agree?
  • Walt
    My facebook activity is primarily restricted to friends and family. The entries tend to be less frequent than Twitter. I have more pictures on FB than Twitter. FB are more album and events. Twitter are pics as something is unfolding.

    LinkedIn is used purely for business and only have business contacts and colleagues.

    Twitter is my everything else network--interesting people, news, interesting articles and Web entries, etc.
  • I use FB to stay in "light tough" with my extended, overlapping social network -- Mom friends, work friends, family, college buddies, etc. I do this via status updates, photo uploads, DMs, games, etc.

    I use Twitter to share links and musings, and stay in closer touch with my early-adopter work friends. Not a lot of overlap with my personal life. It's dramatically reduced my blogging output, 'cause it serves a similar funtion.

    The near-real-time feedback function of Twitter is fascinating, and somewhat addictive. Which of my tweets will people respond to? It's hard to predict -- and thus inherently compelling.
  • mingyeow
    Hi Amy, thanks for your great comments, especially the last part on
    psychology of Twittering.
    What kind of tool do you think would be very conducive to helping you
    understand response to your Tweets?

    I have 2 here: Bit.ly, which tracks how many clicks you have (this post
    received about 4000 in the last hour), and feedjit.com, which shows you a
    live stream of activity.

    It is stunningly addictive!

    M
  • J
    Yes. And no. Linked in is strictly professional - and rarely used by me. I check in once or twice a month.

    I use Twitter for job related and personal updates - which are piped to my FaceBook status. I'm not going to post updates in two different places. I rarely post updates solely on FB.

    And I use FaceBook to keep up with friends and family, and to reconnect with former classmates and colleagues.
  • I definitely use Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin differently - however, I am on now on Ping.fm so my status is updated on all 3 (plus MySpace and Plaxo)
  • mingyeow
    Curious - how does the response to your status updates differ, since you
    have the same status across these tools? =)
  • Absolutely. I'm a security practisioner, writer, and photographer and it's hard to avoid looking like a schizophrenic online. So I use LinkedIn primarily for my security career, facebook to keep in touch primarily with people I actually know, and Twitter for general online networking.
  • mingyeow
    Hi Eric,
    Do you mind sharing what connections you have built on Twitter? What do
    you mean "general online networking?"

    M
  • Linked In is for professional contacts only although I have invited friends as a way to introduce them to others. Although I accept most invites, I tend to keep my list clean to people I can truly recommend in a professional setting.

    I have been on Facebook for personal use only but recently started getting requests from business associates so I decided to keep 2 accounts, one for private and one for professional associations. I intend to use Facebook as a professional networking tool as I like participating in the groups.

    I have been a Twitter spectator for a long time and just decided to have a more active account for business. As a consultant, I can see a lot of application for Twitter for my small business clients.

    Long-term, I am open to seeing how the tools and technology evolves. I may use the tools differently especially if any of them change their business model and begin charging differently for businesses.
  • -FACEBOOK: for catching up with people I know from my past - schools, jobs, etc. Some of my newest FB pals have come from Twitter, but I prefer to communicate with them via Twitter rather than FB. My FB interactions usually consist of the "long time no see" type of conversations and comments on their status updates, and I update my status there at least once a week.

    -TWITTER: for interacting with people who have interests similar to mine. I only know one Twitter friend from life offline; he was a co-worker. The rest I found via Twitter searches based on my interests. Twitter is a great way for me to get information, share ideas, get feedback or advice - or to give advice and information of my own. I enjoy the social and political commentary my Twitter pals make, and the jokes we tell and support we give one another.

    LINKEDIN- this is a purely professional account for me. I do not use it for casual chats or to meet friends. It's only purpose for me is job networking and career information.
  • I always consider that anyone from any app could possibly read anything I write. Using all three and a blog, actually is an exercise in keeping myself true to myself. In a practical sense, I'd like to see the three more connected. I use the FB/Twitter app then add more info when needed to FB. Also have a Twitter widget on my blog. Would like to have one interface for all which is why I am checking out Feely.
  • oops Feedly.
  • I also use the three somewhat differently but actually some what in inverse to what you do.

    Twitter is my totally open network. I follow all kinds of people and anyone can follow me. I think it is great place for people to discover each other and interact. The key here is to participate and not just stand on the sidelines. Here there are people I may not even know but that I can get to know. New and fresh perspectives abound in an environment filled with those both familiar to me and not.

    Facebook is a personal network of friends and business acquaintances. It is a place where I interact with people I know. The low or almost no friction aspect of the interactions allow me to keep up with people I know. Through the things people post and their status updates I can stay current and interact in an organic and natural way with those people. Life is busy and Facebook allows you to be connected in more then a casual way with people you know near or far and from your present or past. For me Facebook is limited to people I know and have intereacted with on some professional or personal level.

    Linkedin is a trusted and professional network. This is a place to connect with and keep track of those in your network in a more formal way. Here I am aware of people moving from company to company and job to job. Linkedin is a professional resource where I can look people up and see what parts of my network they are connected to or where I can find resources that are either part of my existing network or that are connected to that network. One of the key differences between this and Facebook, beyond the more professional nature or the system, is the trusted nature of this network. The people I am connected with here I have reason to have trust in that they understand the true value of networking. Unlike the person I knew in highshcool who I may happily follow and stay connected with on Facebook on Linkedin these are people I know and expect would aid me if I asked and who I would be willing to pass on to my network.

    I think these three tools bring a nice balance to my online networking efforts with each filling a specific need.
  • LinkedIn - professional contacts - folks that I think can help me get a job, or whom I can help get a job.

    Twitter - People with whom I want to share ideas. This might be all listening on my end, all listening on their end, or two-way conversation.

    Facebook - Friends & Family that I want to keep up with. What's going on in their life, their kids lives, etc.
  • cv
    definitely different uses for all three, even though the friends/followers/connections do overlap. twitter, i think, is much more "open" to constantly updating or "tweeting." with twitter you often focus on certain things and can constantly tweet about a social media get-togethers such as twestival. not everyone on facebook is on twitter so you can't be updating you status with things that aren't familiar to your friends. and as for linkedin --it's definitely for career and job networking. so all in all, i definitely used them differently!
  • Rahel B
    Facebook is where I keep up with my friends and family, mainly. A few business connections are on there, but I don't go out of my way to encourage its use as a business tool. There are a few networks who posts their events there, as well.

    Twitter, LinkedIn, Plaxo, etc - all interconnected business tools. Twitter is like being at a big networking event, where I can listen in on conversations and participate, but don't have to when I'm pressed for time. And that's how I keep up with people as they move from company to company, etc.
  • mingyeow
    Hi Rahel! A quick question:
    "keep up with people as they move from company to company, etc."

    Wouldn't that be somewhat overlapping with Linkedin, especially since
    Linkedin typically send updates of what your network is up to?
  • Yes, I use Facebook and Twitter differently. I don't befriend professional contacts (apologies to those who have asked) so Facebook is more for fun and keeping my actual friends and family informed.

    Whereas with Twitter, I'm using it to get the word out on stories, both mine and other peoples', and also to send updates during breaking news. Many of my followers seem to be in PR. I think they all went to the same "following journos through Twitter" conference.
  • mingyeow
    Hi Micki - would be very interested to understand how moving forward, you
    would like to use social media as a way to both get good leads to stories,
    get feedback for your stories, and to break news,
    Curious: Viewership from your tweets would not be comparable to organic
    viewerships from NYTIMEs, and how differently do you see these 2 traffic
    sources?
  • sunrainor
    My case is influenced by my location - Caribbean - very few people use these three social networks, with way by far the most being on facebook. Barely a handful of people in this region have caught on to the idea that the social networks can be good for business.

    Personally, I am still exploring and I am most interested in making business based contacts - I've probably made the fewest of these on fb with LinkedIn being the most successful in that respect so far. I think this may change as I have recently found ways to search twitter for people in my region and it's then so easy to make contact compared to LinkedIn.

    At first I was daunted by the seemingly overwhelming volume of tweets to wade through on twitter but if I can figure out how to handle that, the flexibility of twitter and ease with which you can reach people makes it very appealing.

    Definitely the most relaxed on fb - tho as an ex teacher, with a lot of my former students as fb friends, I'm still careful what I say there!
  • mingyeow
    Totally agree with that. have you seen this article yet?
    http://blog.mrtweet.net/twitter-to-go-how-one-l...

    M
  • sunrainor
    thanks - that's interesting - I forgot to mention, one thing holding back twitter for us in the Caribbean is that it costs quite a bit to tweet from this far on a phone and also, we can't receive tweets via phone. Blackberry, that's another matter, and still $$$ so we're back to 'the very few'...that's ok, these things will change, and by then I should be pretty well ahead of the game in these parts:)
  • Facebook is for friends and acquaintances. I love that no one sees what I am posting without me first deciding they are "worthy" (aka: they are my facebook friend). I don't "friend" anyone I don't know in some way. That it part of the appeal of facebook and as such affects what I post onto it.

    Twitter is definitely a mini-blog and I use it as such. I never know who might be reading my Tweets. I also use it to promote my blog posts to anyone that might be listening. I read other tweeters for enjoyment, information and just because they sound cool.

    They are totally different mediums.
  • mingyeow
    Thanks for your insights! Can I say that on FB, you are more private /
    friends-oriented => you are less cautious about what you write. On Twitter,
    you are more public, and it is also full of people you know less about.
    Therefore, your behavior is more cautious, and more professional.
  • Saundra
    I don't follow Facebook that closely. Mostly friendsand family. I have several friends/co-workers that I communicate with on Linkedin. Mostly I'm reading about others expanding their networks. However, I like the Linkedin groups. Right now the groups are more useful for me. I am a member of several writing groups and I check them and respond regularly. I check Twitter regularly also. All of these sites are new to me and I really want to get the best use out of them. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.
  • mingyeow
    Hi Saundra: This posting might be useful:
    <http://blog.mrtweet.net/8-useful-tips-to-become...>
    blog.mrtweet.net/8-useful-tips-to-become-successful-with-twitter

    Also, see how companies are using Twitter:

    blog.mrtweet.net/how-freshbooks-built-an-army-of-evangelists-starting-from-one-special-tweet

    M
  • Facebook was for finding my first kiss. LinkedIn (for now) seems mandatory since I'm a college grad. Twitter has opened so many exciting project/ small business/ freelance design opportunities, I cannot believe I discovered it so late. I hope, like I have never hoped before, Twitter will remain intact as an individual contribution to a thoughtful web community.
  • mingyeow
    Hi Laura - Do you mind sharing what kinds of exciting project/ small
    business/ freelance design opportunities that you have found on Twitter? And
    what are the techniques you used to find them?
    Looking forward to hearing from you!
  • I've definitely found myself more hesitant to update my facebook status lately for some reason. Twitter seems more temporal and I'm much more likely to get a response or feedback. I'd never both asking a question through Facebook even though i have nearly three times the followers/friends.
    My Facebook has become a mishmash of friends, family, and writing associates. It gives me an opportunity to get to know some better or stay in touch but twitter is much more valuable for networking.
  • LinkedIn serves for me as a personal but professional network. Twitter is knowledge productive to me. Facebook is for fun and the least used by me.It has too many things that i don't want to pay attention to. To take Facebook serious and give in to all the requests would be too time consuming in my opinion.
  • wow, this is kicked off a real debate.

    It seems to me my relationship to them is highly fluid and changes all the time. I don't fully understand my relationship with any of them, i kind of blow hot and cold about them all at different times.

    Currently i'm using fb and linkedin less, but i think linkedin may pick up as the recession bites and people try and use it as a networking device, which i don't think they have till this point. Linkedin feels static currently, look at all my 'professional' contacts, i mustn't be a crack pot if so many people have linkedin.

    I think the corporate community naturally leans more toward linkedin than the other services, Tweet still feels a little new media to me. There are a number of celebrities using it to drive their brand rather than any genuine need to reach out to people.

    Can tell you this though, over the last couple of years people have tried to ping me new social networks. I ignore those, i just can't be bothered to go through the painful experience of building a new network.

    Finally, does anyone else think that these services take you away from what you should actually be doing 'seeing and meeting real people' or 'working' - don't respond is you are in the new media space - as THIS IS WHAT YOU DO AND IS THEREFORE BOTH! ;-)
  • Jade
    To me Facebook is used to find or keep in touch with OLD contactcs. Twitter is to find and keep in touch with NEW contacts. Linkedin is to SHOWBOAT yourself to anyone who may stumble accross your profile and offer you a deal/job!
  • Unclaimed (and holding out!)
    Facebook is for people you used to know. Twitter is for people you may or may not know but would like to invite over for dinner.
  • LinkedIn - my use is similar to Heather's. Purely professional (except for the rare occasion where I've reconnected on a social level with an old classmate or colleague). I rarely use it, except to accept connection requests and respond to messages.

    Facebook - my use is mainly, but not exclusively, social, however, I am connected to many people who are professional, rather than personal, contacts. When I log into Facebook during the workday, it's like taking a coffee break with a friend or co-worker. I never put anything on Facebook that I wouldn't want my clients to see.

    Twitter - I'm finally getting the hang of it, and I have to say I have got more value from it in the few months I've been using it than either of the above sites. I've been on LinkedIn for maybe 5 years, and Facebook for 2 years. So I think I'll be using it much more!

    By the way, I blogged about a similar topic a few months ago: http://tinyurl.com/awtepu
  • Here is how I currently utlize the 'Big 3':

    Facebook: 'rekindling and repurposing the past'. Primarily used with close friends, family and colleagues I interface or have interfaced with in the physical world.

    Twitter: 'present day by day social stimulus for personal and professional betterment.'
    Here, I am actively looking for key inputs to drive my lifestyle design while reciprocating the same with friends and followers.

    LinkedIn: 'all about future interactions with people and parts unknown'. This is the shiny and professional looking profile that stays consistent and concrete--hopefully a buoy and beacon for perpetual professional good standing and hope for financial prosperity.

    So past, present and future aspects of my life are well served by these three bastions of digital social connectedness.
  • mingyeow
    wow, this is a really fantastic summary of the "big 3"!
    Thanks a lot for this - certainly did not think of it in terms of this
    dimension. =)
  • ...perfectly put :)
  • mingyeow
    Hi Dean, just FYI - i am featuring your comment
  • No need to write much of a comment - I almost entirely echo Heather Rasley's use of all three, with the addition that I use Facebook for activism as well - linking with others in peace groups.

    Twitter I only discovered about a week ago and am already finding its worth - take a while though to see where this ll eventually leads :)
  • Digiburd
    I use Facebook to chat with friends and family exclusively. I try to keep things "private" on facebook and keep my connections to people I actually know on a very personal level. It's more face to face for me.

    I use LinkedIn for professional connections only. I use it more as a resume. I only update it when there is a major career incident in my life and hardly ever make "connections' through it.

    Twitter on the other hand is a tool I am constantly learning how to hone. It started out as a "what i'm doing right at this moment" toy of sorts and has morphed into a powerful way for me to stay connected to my friends/business/interests/news .. you name it really. You find people who are interested in the same stuff or industry and within a couple of days you can become an expert in it. It's amazingly powerful but at the same time can become overwhelming at times. I love it.

    I think by the way this article is panning out though you can agree that these are the BIG 3 of the social networking sites that have specific audiences.
  • i blogged about this weeks ago...check it out..

    http://thetinyjewelbox.blogspot.com/2009/01/twi...
  • Catwoman69y2k
    First off, I do not use LinkedIn. I use Facebook on a very very limited basis due to the amount of data mining and extra bullshit apps that invade that place.

    However I tend to use Twitter the most these days, even more than my actual blog on InsaneJournal. People who I know that are thinking of following me on twitter get a warning of how it is diarrhea of my mind at times. Twitter is a way to get a brief thought out but also connect with people. Often times I save important words from myself or friends. Thought of using it for some future project but dont know what yet.

    Kat
  • zulfnore
    I currently use FB purely for social networking and letting my frineds know about my current ventures or what am upto.

    I am new to twitter and linkedIn - I intend to use twitter for to connect with like minded ppl in the hope of futhering my knowledge in the wider sense. As for linkedIn i intend to use it strictly for professional contacts as I grow my online business.
  • Facebook: Friends, relatives, close business associations. Typically people I know in real life, and had in person conversations or interactions.

    Twitter: Facebook + randoms I'm interested in gaining insight from. Typically, a more diverse interaction on a wider range of topics.

    I use both daily. Typically, my facebook interactions are more personal than twitter. Occasionally, I have a status and a tweet that are related, but mostly facebook is a more intimate look into my life as opposed to twitter.
  • Different uses for different Things.
    Twitter is more of a daily companion , whilst Facebook and Linkedin are much more passive structures, a story that is being written everyday.. to be read another day!
  • monkey
    twitter for me, ironically, is more private because people who really know who i am is only a select handful. most of my other followers don't know me personally. so i can rant and whine and gripe which i cannot do on facebook because i have colleagues, students and other people on there.

    i have two twitter account, one for my work and one for my personal ranting. but ironically again my rant twitter account has more followers. in fact, ive made a lot of new friends from all over the world via twitter conversations. on the other hand, on facebook even though i have "strangers" adding me, no real conversation really kicks up. That's because its hard to keep track of all the 800 people i have on my facebook. in terms of twitter-facebook merge, i only display my work twitter account on facebook and not my personal one. I do not dare to enable status synch either because i think facebook has a different purpose and the way to use facebook is a tad different too. I reach a more "local" crowd on facebook.

    i mainly use facebook for work. with groups and pages, it can be very effective. work in this case is mostly environmental outreach and advocating.

    linkedin is totally for business/work only. in fact, i don't expect much from it but since i got contacted through linkedin recently, i've a changing perspective of its use. still exploring.
  • Facebook: Used exclusively to keep in touch with friends old and new. No professional networking at all, given that most friends don't share my professional interests (and vice versa).

    Twitter: Used exclusively to build and interact with overlapping peer groups relating to my professional interests, albeit in a casual and informal setting.

    LinkedIn: Purely for professional contacts and networking.
  • MichaelFiala
    I think the 3 can be used to maintain an overall online personal and professional profile. The trick is to balance the amount of time spent on these with the rest of your personal life / work life.
  • I use Facebook for more personal connection. I use Twitter for a more professional interaction, like i have experts on various fields teach me cool stuff i would not normally have known if i have not checked the links they feed on the stream.. but lately things have been different.. more and more of the people i follow have become friends.. I guess its a matter of how you really use the tool that is important.

    lately what inspired me is that the interactions that i have made on whatever platform i use, have really made me a better person.
  • 1stAngel
    Facebook

    Friends and family and to introduce some new people to me and what I do. I am more relaxed on Facebook

    Twitter

    To meet new people that have the same interests and to find new people to interview

    LinkedIn

    I have an account but am unsure how to utilise it at present properly as I am afraid I am not very business orientated.
  • EtotheZ
    For me, the big difference is in the amount of reach I have on each netork, and the amount of potential reach.

    Facebook is a network that's only populated by people I know, so I'm less conservative when it comes to what I post there. I rarely think twice about plugging up the stream with too much information, because frankly the type of information on facebook isn't usually that important anyway. Its main value is in its picture-tagging service, which is also the feature that causes the most headaches for people...

    LinkedIn is basically just a place for me to plant my "professional" flag, and keep in touch with ex-coworkers. It's nice to have, because it means those same co-workers aren't going to need to find me on Facebook (where I don't want to add them, lest they see all the pictures of me being wasted)

    Twitter is something I have more respect for (although I don't necessarily see that from everyone). Realizing that everything I post is made public, and that it'll be instantly streamed to my followers, I exercise much more restraint in the amount and type of tweets I make. That's not to say I only act in a 'professional' way (I'm trying to start a "rhyming haiku" meme, for example), but I generally make an active effort not to flood the stream with crap. Sadly, not everyone seems to care about maintaining the "integrity of the stream", which is where Twitter fails, imo
  • Starting out, I used Facebook to reconnect with old classmates and friends and stay connected with new friends and co-workers. I was not using it often and many of my friends even deleted their accounts because they were not using them, we just text each other. But lately I've been accepting friend requests from fellow bloggers and people who frequently read it. It has actually increased my Facebook interaction.

    I use Twitter everyday. I am still fairly new to Twitter but it has been a great way of networking. I have connected with some very interesting people and it is a great resource when looking for recommendations on certain topics.

    LinkedIn is strictly for professional use. I do not use it often and am only connected wit co-workers, lose friends and others in my industries.
  • i am cerainly using all three. facebook - communicating with friends. Linkedin - making sure I have the right business connections. Twitter keeping up to date with like minded peopl
  • -- facebook : for friends and family, not professional

    -- Linkedin : strictly professional

    -- Twitter : professional-intrest related, but "anonymous".
  • HowardH
    I find that Twitter is a more "in the moment" experience than Facebook. It reminds me of my days in amateur radio -- which, among other things was a way of making new friends and contacts. A group of us carried small walky-talkies around and, periodically, we would announce our presence as we moved through our day. If someone else was interested in talking they would call back and a chat would ensue. Others might interrupt and join in. Still others might start to chat along with us and then move off to another frequency. Sometimes we would use our radios to meet for lunch or a drink. About once every couple of months we would all gather in person. That seems to be one of the ways that Twitter works here in Halifax, Nova Scotia where I am living.

    I agree with Adam that Facebook is "a very general social networking site mainly to connect with old friends and to stay up with new friends. Facebook also has what I would call a longer time base than Twitter. I might not respond to a Facebook post for a day or two. That wouldn't work very well on Twitter because if I was away from it for a day, or even a few hours, many of the messages I had received would be so far down on the message list that they wouldn't even be seen. For similar reasons I Find that Facebook is a good vehicle for announcing events that are scheduled for some time in the future. You can actually create a Facebook page for a specific meeting or concert and people can post comments, and even photos, there.
  • Only been on Facebook for three weeks, but been on Twitter for several months, not used Linkedln at all. Was actually a tweet from an online friend that persuaded me to join FB in the first place.

    Like many others in my network, my tweets are echoed as facebook updates. Probably not been on FB long enough to have determined the 'best' way of using it, but it seems to be almost exclusively social rather than professional, and seems to be an extension of a lot of forum-based online communities I belong to. Quite possibly it takes a lot of the off-topic chatter away from those forums, which may be a good or a bad thing depending on how you look at it.
  • Regis Magyar
    The emergence of most social networking sites seems to be a product of "because we can" thinking, and because of meeting any real user requirements. I seriously wonder if there really is "killer app" for things like Twitter. Twitter seems to be the synthesis of multiple applications. For example its like email that gets broadcasted to many users but based on old SMS texting protocols.

    Some of the phone networking sites like Fotochatter and Mocospace at least have settled on being "dating" services even though they try to resemble sites like Facebook or MySpace. On the other hand, they are great for quickly posting pictures that are taken on the fly.

    I think if someone was to research what users like and dislike about using each site, it may be possible to start creating and developing a site with a better "application" focus other than simply a mish-mosh of various types of messaging or picture posting services.

    Picture posting sites like Snapmylife.com and Funsnaps.com are great for users to post and display their photos. While they provide the ability to broadcast messages to a wide group of people simultaneously, the application is primarily focuses on "photography" and not toward satisfying every possible "need" or requirement that any individual user has.

    Abe Lincoln would have made a great Human Factors engineer with his advice on managing people; "You can't satisfy all of the people all of the time, but you can satisfy some of the people some of the time". The old rule of first specifying a set of users groups ,their specific requirements, and a context is the definitive first step in developing a good application. The next step is to specify a particular technology to satisfy these requirements.

    If these steps are followed ,one could quickly see how services such as Facebook and Twitter could be modified to become real killer applications.
  • chefchick
    Like others I use Twitter more for professional reasons, Facebook for more social/time-wasting activities, and LinkedIn just as a matter of necessity.

    I've only recently begun using Twitter, and I find I'm a little apprehensive with it. So far it's a one-way form of communication for me (if throwing out chunks of information into the ether toward whomever may care to read it, and scanning/reading other people's "chunks" can count as communication.) It feels like a big badminton game using 140-character blurbs in place of shuttlecocks - we're all just whacking bits of info into the air in the hopes of something being returned. ;-)

    I think I'm afraid to use the direct response feature; it feels intrusive. Or does a person sending out tweets expect/desire direct responses?
  • Dean's appraisal of how to use the three, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, mirrors my use, and my company's use, to a T. Twitter seems to be the unknown for a few reasons. When I first spotted it, I thought it was silly, then saw how accessible it was and how it filled a niche in a way I now feel is most compelling for daily use. Behind it all, I feel like I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop. What is next for Twitter and how will it used without becoming offensive or boring? I have to believe it will change or evolve but can't see the possibilities and can't keep up with all the jargon.
  • Facebook- I find that I use less and less. Mostly to connect with family overseas.and to update my visual bookshelf. Though I have joined some great groups which havent visited much since started Twitter
    LinkedIn- Dont use it to its full potential. Perhaps because I am Full time working mom. Though like to use the book application.
    Twitter - The ultimate social nettwrking tool. It is like sitting with some friends and having discussion. I find it also as a trong tool for professional development.
  • Having my Twitter updates merge with my FB would certainly build my Twitter followers, however my friend and family on FB would certainly feel shorted and be turned off. (The best way I can describe using Twitter to make frequent FB updates is it's like being invited to a friend's house for dinner, and then instead of dessert you get a sales pitch for Amway.)

    I think they're very separate. Although my work passions and my personal passions blur... most of them are the exact same in fact... I use FB as a place to post personal stuff... sometimes it may be related to work, but most often not.

    Twitter is the exact opposite. Most of my posts will be work-related or geared to "colleagues" and yet sometimes I'll post something personal.

    What I find guides me is that the most exciting things (whether personal or professional) make both FB and Twitter, but in duplicate posts, not the same.

    Too often I need the differences that FB and Twitter each faciliate for me.

    Thanks - these are all great comments and I appreciated your post very much.
  • Yes, these are three very different social media sites. A short breakdown of how I use each:

    Facebook:

    I thoroughly enjoy meeting new people here, finding friends from earlier days and forging new business relationships. I'm super casual here: I'll throw up pictures of when I was 7 years old. I'll chat very openly with strangers, I'll post a wide variety of interesting items for a very broad range of "friends."

    But I also am using Facebook to promote my business using a Facebook Page. Just put one up a few days ago and it has already generated viable reaches.

    LinkedIn

    As many of us know, this is the conservative cousin of Facebook. So I stay with the conservative theme and meet new people for business purposes.

    Twitter

    Similar to Facebook, I've got two approaches here. I've got a personal Twitter account and I'm very informal and conversational here and I have a business account (@hiringhelp) where I deliver business advice and help people with hiring matters.

    All three are important to me and I'm committed to growing each in terms of capacity to reach others and provide two-way help.
  • Kelly
    i guess i'm in the minority. i have a facebook account, but its sole purpose is for far flung and long lost friends to find me, as i live abroad. i only check it when i've received mail that someone wants to add me, and if they aren't someone i know personally, i don't. i don't use their time wasting gadgets and find the constant requests annoying. once i have found an old friend or they've found me, we communicate via email and skype, not FB message, walls, or whathaveyou. i don't have hardly anything on my page, as, frankly, my life is no one else's business, which seems to be a minority opinion of the overall facebook user.

    i love twitter and use it all the time, but on a (more) professional level. i wouldn't want my tweets and my facebook to be linked in any way; i would find it invasive, because i basically use facebook for personal reasons, and twitter for professional reasons.

    i don't use linkedin at all, at least, not yet :O)
  • Zanland blog http://www.zandland.blogspot.com
    put it this way:

    If LinkedIn is your Resume
    Facebook is the Interview

    to which I would add
    Twitter is the Conversation
  • I use a fourth tool -- @jasonalba's fantastic network building contact management app http://jibberjobber.com. I use Twitter and Linked-In (and a few private branded social networks) to develop new contacts with a goal of migrating the contact info into JibberJobber, which helps support the finer points of network development.
  • It is interesting, but I never mix my LinkedIn and my twitter personas, but Facebook for me works almost as a subset of twitter. For example:

    LinkedIn is for professional contact only. I have my business network and references to my resume and my blog, but and I NEVER update my status in there.

    Twitter I use as continuous stream of conversation, sometimes is work, sometimes is personal and, although my approach is still more professional on Twitter, it is quite fluid. There I talk about my work, my blog and eventually tweet what I doing at the moment (my status).

    On Facebook I have only my friends and I feel free to make fun of other's comments , photos and etc, but I don't directly update my status there either. In fact, i have my twitter account feeding my Facebook status automatically.

    The problem here is that not all my tweets are Facebook-worthy. Some are Retweets or twitter conversations that don't replicate well with my Facebook friends, but I don't know any way of only partially syncing my tweets with Facebbok updates and i don't have the time or inclination to go updating my status in several different places each time i feel like sharing what I am doing.

    For me it would be ideal if I could clear delimit the right subset of my tweets to follow through to Facebook....
  • I use Facebook to socialise with people I already know. Only people I consider my friends and that are in my social circle (both real life and virtual) have access to my Facebook.

    Twitter however, I use to meet new people, and any friends that tweet are an added bonus there. I network more with the community and professionally, and find local people who might also have the same interests as me. If I get to know them, I may add them to my Facebook.
  • Of course you use them differently, unless you are in the small subset of careers where your personality outside of work is important (in the sense of being a BENEFIT and not simply something that risks polarizing potential work companions and employers).

    In most corporate environments, you out-of-work personality is something you show only to select co-workers in personal environments. So for most of us, having a broadcast 24/7 of your quips and random thoughts is more likely to be a LIABILITY when looking for a job or a professional networking opportunity.

    In principle, this isn't any different on the web than it is in life, where it's best to keep your drinking and bong-hitting buddies separate from your "dinner at ToastMasters" companions.

    The practical difference is that anyone NOT in that very limited circle of jobs outside the corporate mainstream had best be twitting and blogging and facebooking under pseudonyms and be "linked in" as a professional. After all, your "friends" know that you got to put up a professional front, and they don't mind.
  • mingyeow
    Hi El, do you mean that on Twitter, you tend to be more careful about posting personal stuff, both because of privacy concerns, and also because of the broadcast medium - that you have much less sense about who is likely to read it. Hence you do not want to bore them with personal stuff?

    This is of course in contrast to Facebook where it is likely to be seen by a small segment of people (whom you are likely to know or met) - You tend to be more open with posting personal, less "generally interesting" comments, because you know who is likely to be reading it.

    Would these be accurate statements?
  • Kelly
    I am darn close to logging off Facebook forever. I never did use Linkedin. Twitter is the future, and I plan to recommend it to all my buddies.
  • mingyeow
    Why are you logging off Facebook forever?
  • I suspended my Facebook account (they wouldn't let me delete it!) because I'd become uneasy about the growing number of bad news stories.
    LinkedIn has given me some contacts & references, but no business.
    Twitter has sold my t-shirts, tripled my Squidoo lens traffic, given me access to high-fliers I'd not otherwise have reached & generated welcome work for my main business of copywriting.
    I think Twitter will go mainstream. I think it will continue to be useful unless everyone ends up following everyone else - at which time it could eat itself. Until then, I think it will be my most valuable networking tool for all my purposes. Many thanks! P. :)
  • mingyeow
    Hi Paul! What is your website address? If it fits, I am interested in
    exploring the possibility of making it a case study to be featured on this
    blog.
    My email is mingyeow@gmail.com - if you are interested, please email me with
    more details (address, actual stats of t-shirts, traffic), and how you have
    done so.

    Please see
    http://blog.mrtweet.net/twitter-to-go-how-one-l...
    an example!

    Again, ONLY if you are interested in being a case study! =)
  • dclewley
    Facebook has zero business value due to the personal "wall" writings that can be a detractor, whereas LinkedIN is a solid business to business network. I use LinkedIN to find contacts at prospective accounts; gain insight from various GROUPS that opine about relevant business perspectives; and offer visibility to those wanting to know about products I am promoting. I like the LinkedIN slideshow and have NO need to booklists (that is truly a Facebook function).
  • i use twitter to learn japanese and share the words and phrases i've recently learned with other student in my class. it is a great way to stay connected outside of class; we're all busy people.

    i also follow 'LearnKanji' who posts a new japanese word everyday.
    http://twitter.com/learnkanji
  • Rex
    I like creating groups on Facebook to brings friends together to build and share in the development of different resources like YouTube, Twitter, etc. I find that Facebook groups, if used correctly is a great way to drive traffic and interest provided you are sharing something of value!
  • I have two twitter accounts, one personal, one professional. People follow one or the other. Have two blogs, also, one personal, one professional. Almost no one reads both. I am a statistical consultant by profession and a former world judo champion. People generally are interested in me because of statistics or judo but not both.

    My Facebook account is pretty dormant, mostly for keeping in touch with my children when they are out of the country or I am.

    I don't put anything on the Internet anywhere that it would bother me if it was quoted in the New York Times or USA Today. (Of course, I have been quoted in both of those places saying some things other people might consider outrageous - but I don't.)

    I've received several invitations to Linked In but don't have any real interest or need for it.
  • mingyeow
    Hi Ann, wow, you do have an amazing background! I was practising TKD for a bit, before I dropped out, so i greatly admire folks like you. Amazing level of determination and focus needed. Could I say that Facebook was great at the start, but the network loses freshness after initial thrill, and information is no where as dynamic as Twitter, because you do not discover or get discovered by others that easily?
  • zafarali
    they will always be different! They will in NO way ever become the same. I use Twitter to communicate with people i don't know and comment on interesting things I see. I also share links through it and get into interesting conversations with new friends.
    I keep Facebook Only for friends and Family. I use more full spellings (no 140 char limit) and use proper english. I don't share links (alot). I use it mainly for the photos and communication.
    On the whole I don't think tthey will ever be the same!
  • For me, I hope they don't all merge, even though I could see the time efficiencies of that. I use FB for personal and social networking. I don't want to have to monitor what i say on there in case a client happens to see it. (Although I'm fairly cautious about what I post anywhere; I don't feel like any of these media are private in any way.)

    I use LinkedIn to keep track of my clients; most of them are there, making it mandatory for me.

    I'm new to twitter, so still figuring that one out. Right now, I see too much crap, for lack of a betteer word. I follow lots of people that I don't know because I think they have interesting things to say, but too often, even those interesting people post things like "I just went to the grocery store." If I don't figure out how to more efficiently sort through to get to the good stuff, I may give it up - it's a huge time suck for little benefit right now. And maybe there are already ways to make that easier, but I haven't figured them out yet. If you have any tips, please send them my way @scubasusan.
  • mingyeow
    Hi Susan, thanks for the great comments! I am preparing a summary post, and am trying to incorporate your insights. Would you say that the following points summarize what you were expressing in your comments?

    - Twitter: There is the potential of discovering both great people, and also being discovered by others, especially in terms of branching out into other communities. But right now there is too much noise/crap, and you find it to be a time suck.

    - Facebook: Narrowcasting personal content to a small segment of people (whom you are likely to know or met). You tend to be more open with posting personal, less "generally interesting" comments, because you know who is likely to be reading it.

    - LinkedIn: Rarely changing public face which you maintain as clean as possible (in case some one looks at it for professional reasons)

    The fundamental reasons for these vastly different behaviors are really because of the nature of the network, the speed of interactions, and searchability of what you write poses very different rewards, costs and risks of communicating.

    Would you say that is a reasonable summary? Would love to know what you think!
  • Great Post. I definitely do use LinkedIn, Facebook & Twitter differently.
  • I am old enough to have been a real freshman facebook.So-yech!
    Twitter is small exact faster
    Linkedin is a hoot if you do not take yourself seriously. I've got 3 million followers there Hilarious! It's like Annie Lennox said,,,,
  • Ali
    I use Twitter as a means for networking with anybody. Facebook as a mean of connecting with people I know or knew. LinkedIn, I use just a professional means. If you cannot speak about me (Character, work ethic, or other potential employer questions) to a potential employer, then find me on another network.
  • Facebook: for posting photos for family and friends, update status of what I'm up to, exchange messages - the younger generation don't use e-mail anymore, only facebook...I rarely check e-mail myself.

    Twitter: I have not met 99% of the followers on twitter, so try to be more professional, update status only relevant to my industry and my blog.

    Linkedin: as a online Resume, don't use it too often except when people link to me I'll go check out their profile and who they are linked to.
  • DolleyMadison
    I'm new to both of them, but I took my Twitter off my FB, as I have different friends, and it was confusing. I just wanted a "link" on FB to let everybody know I twittered, but when I updated Twitter, it went on FB, and didn't make any sense -- well -- less sense than I usually do.
  • I find that I am target people in different contexts over the different platforms.
    initially I did submit the same updates to all, but then it did not make sense, especially because I engage more in twitter - which looks odd as a FB update.
  • Have been a power user of Linkedin long before I began to use Facebook and now only recenty using twitter. Agree with the featured comments with one variation. As a late bloomer to facebook and twitter, I have found that the network I developed in linkedin, in effect invested time in developing over the past few years, produces new leads for my business on a daily basis. Facebook has been effective for reconnecting with many old friends and is positioned as a way to give my business community a personal perspective on me, and therefore remain sensitive to the content posted there. http://www.tinyurl.com/fb-karen-rands Twitter is beginning to create valuable linkages for me with folks not accessable on the other communities because it was their community of choice. http://www.twitter.com/karen-rands Each seems to serve a different purpose from a business development standpoint and think they are all necessary for a CEO that wants to establish themselves as an expert in a field. Not everyone uses any one tool and finding folks in each environment has its own unique challenges, so to reach a broad audience each is worthwhile of the time invested to gain a presence in that environment.
  • mingyeow
    Hi Karen, thanks for the great comments! Would you say that the following points summarize what you were expressing in your comments?

    - Twitter: Broadcasting good content to a lot of people (who have connected to you for both professional and personal reasons). There is the potential of discovering both great people, and also being discovered by others, especially in terms of branching out into other communities.

    - Facebook: Narrowcasting personal content to a small segment of people (whom you are likely to know or met)

    - LinkedIn: Rarely changing public face which you maintain as clean as possible (in case some one looks at it for professional reasons)

    The fundamental reasons for these vastly different behaviors are really because of the nature of the network, the speed of interactions, and searchability of what you write poses very different rewards, costs and risks of communicating.

    Would you say that is a reasonable summary? Would love to know what you think!
  • Facebook - people I know
    Twitter - smart people I want to know more about and hope they want to know more about me
    Linked In - people that I need to know professionally

    Right now I'm fascinated with Twitter, happy to keep up with old friends and colleagues on Facebook and rarely look at linked in unless prodded to do so.
  • Interesting Thread:

    Facebook - Family & Friends
    Twitter - News made by interesting people
    Linkedin – Occasional business contacts

    I also use XING (German/English/Chinese) networking site ... much like Linkedin but more information and better network building (I think).
  • Facebook: Personal. Friends. Family. Some small overlap where I'll let limited professional contacts who are really "friends" into that network. While I fully realize nothing I post in this venue can be truly private, (privacy settings or not), it's fairly clear that this is a place where colloquial and personal items may be posted. Even so, there's a limit to how "stupid" I'll behave on their or even allow others to post such things on my wall, etc.

    LinkedIn: Purely professional contacts. People I work with or have some kind of business affiliation with. "Friends" or personal acquaintances are not there unless they are unquestionably in my industry or close to it.

    Twitter: Is of questionable value to me personally. I still don't personally have much of a personal use case for it. I'll tweet now and again partly for fun, but more follow others I'm interested in. And for the most part, that just provides me with links to their updated blog posts.

    Scott
  • Great discussion. I'd be really interested in seeing a followup post that summarizes the most common responses.

    There's also a similar conversation on Cam Beck's Marketing Profs post, "How to Avoid the Perils of Blended Networks" (http://www.mpdailyfix.com/2009/02/how_to_avoid_...)

    As for me:

    Twitter: Protected account for private tweeting, public account for professional tweets. (Is it just me, or is it hard to say "professional" and "tweets" in the same phrase with a straight face? :) ) Daily, if not hourly, interaction.

    LinkedIn: All business, all the time. But there's really no other way to use it. I never go there unless I get an email notification of a new connection or other updates.

    Facebook: Primarily friends & family. "I met you at the networking breakfast" type contacts assigned to a friends list with higher privacy control settings. (Don't know how to do this? We just wrote a blog post on it: http://blog.cdginteractive.com/my_weblog/2009/0...) Daily to weekly use.
  • mingyeow
    What do you think of these as a followup post? Have been working on it, and the following seems to summarize the various usage patterns well!

    - Twitter: Broadcasting good content to a lot of people (who have connected to you for both professional and personal reasons)

    - Facebook: Narrowcasting personal content to a small segment of people (whom you are likely to know or met)

    - LinkedIn: Rarely changing public face which you maintain as clean as possible (in case some one looks at it for professional reasons)

    The fundamental reasons for these vastly different behaviors are really because of the nature of the network, the speed of interactions, and searchability of what you write poses very different rewards, costs and risks of communicating.

    Would you say that is a reasonable summary? Would love to know what you think!
  • CoachKamna
    Pardon me being facetious, but it's almost like three different pairs of shoes. You wouldn't necessarily wear heels when running or tennis shoes to a cocktail party. In the same way, each netwrk has its own unique use.

    LinkedIn is the premier social networking site for professionals and I use it for my professional contacts, job searching, networking, and building up a client base for my coaching practice. It's where people can find my resume and professional profile.

    Twitter is an excellent way to have an online presence. I use it to manifest my personal brand as a life coach and share insights with others, and engage in a larger online community. It's not about telling people what I'm doing, it's about sharing what interests me and what may interest like-minded individuals from all walks of life.

    Facebook is fun. It's my way to share mundane details and small idiosyncrasies with my family and friends - those who will listen to what I'm doing simply because they care about me.
  • mingyeow
    Thanks for the great comments! You are not facetious at all. In fact, we are asking this because of all the media mentions comparing Twitter and Facebook. Would you say that the following points summarize what you were expressing in your comments?

    - Twitter: Broadcasting good content to a lot of people (who have connected to you for both professional and personal reasons)

    - Facebook: Narrowcasting personal content to a small segment of people (whom you are likely to know or met)

    - LinkedIn: Rarely changing public face which you maintain as clean as possible (in case some one looks at it for professional reasons)

    The fundamental reasons for these vastly different behaviors are really because of the nature of the network, the speed of interactions, and searchability of what you write poses very different rewards, costs and risks of communicating.

    Would you say that is a reasonable summary? Would love to know what you think!
  • sugardayfox
    Thanks for this post. It has just fallen in the middle of my undone puzzle, where I am trying to figure out how I want to use exactly these 3 platforms. Also, it helped me to figure out a few things.

    My evolution went like this:

    Step 1 - LinkedIn - for creating a professional Internet presence. I still do quite a bit as I am knee deep in Business to Business related stuff as well as a salesman.

    Step 2 - Facebook - I still have to get the knack of it, as it is too much about friendly poking and less about making a better me - or you. I also used to draw the parallel with the Hungarian version of FB - iWiw. The first time I was invited, I could not hook off for like 2-3 days or maybe a week to find old friends and such. But now I only use it to seek out Professional contacts background. Hey, we probably miss a Hungarian LinkedIn then...

    Step 3 - Twitter, I got hooked so easily that I don't know how I haven't found it earlier. The best way I would describe my usage is something between professional and personal. As many of you have already put it right. Only I would add that Twitter is really going down to my spine and swirl my inner space.

    All in all I believe this trio represent different stages on a continuum slide. At least for me.
    Professional Life (LinkedIn) > Life and everything (Twitter) > Family and friendly life (Facebook)

    This also giving me the reason why Twitter rules. It is more synergistic, even though FB and LinkedIn is quite full with applications.

    Hail the day,
  • mingyeow
    Hi there! Would you say that these are fundamentally how you use Twitter/Facebook/Linkedin?

    - Twitter: Broadcasting good content to a lot of people (who have connected to you for both professional and personal reasons)

    - Facebook: Narrowcasting personal content to a small segment of people (whom you are likely to know or met)

    - LinkedIn: Rarely changing public face which you maintain as clean as possible (in case some one looks at it for professional reasons)

    The fundamental reasons for these vastly different behaviors are really because of the nature of the network, the speed of interactions, and searchability of what you write poses very different rewards, costs and risks of communicating.

    Would you say that is a reasonable summary? Would love to know what you think!
  • BH
    Here's how I use each social medium:

    Facebook: I use it to stay socially connected with friends and people I know/have met in real life.
    Twitter: I use it to network in a 'not so professional' setting and to stay up-to-date with current news.
    LinkedIn: I use it to build business connections and for professional purposes.
  • My Facebook and Twitter accounts have different audiences
    Facebook --> friends, family, colleagues that I know relatively well
    Twitter --> acquaintances, strangers

    ...and different uses.
    Facebook --> sharing personal anecdotes, family pics, news
    Twitter --> industry discussions
  • My profiles all serve a different purpose, and for that reason my dialogue on each is different. My FBook is on private, whereas all my other profiles are public.

    Each of these public profiles serves a different purpose, therefore how speak differently on each of these networks.

    Social networking is a mirror of our real lives, the language I engage with my dry cleaner is very different to my neighbor, friend or family.

    Aggregating a variety of platforms is a great idea, however human interaction can't be aggregated in the name of efficiency.
  • I finally had to sit down and think about the whole social media thing before it got the best of me.. I was starting to feel a little schizophrenic.. I had my twitter posting to facebook - and that seemed just WRONG..

    So I have now decided that Facebook is an eclectic blend - and likely best represents the most of my life - connections with old friends, family, new friends, colleagues, and people I have never met but who's ideas I admire and thus want to share with my contacts.

    I am working with Linked In to create a very specific professional network in and around my community - and again bringing some cool groups to the mix . I hope to be able to introduce my contacts and clients to my valued business associates via Linked In.

    Twitter.. is great just for its untamed nature.. I like the ability to see the random posts and embrace the sharing culture. I hope to be able to add some value to others by my posts.. but right now.. I seem to be more of a consumer than a contributor.
  • I think it is interesting to approach this from an emotional rather than functional perspective.

    Facebook : as a 40 year old I find having to ask if someone will be my friend as somewhat intimidating and like being back at school. I also prefer a certain amount of anonymity online, as I am secure enough not to feel the need to post micro details of myself to vague acquaintances and old enough to realise that this is probably not that interesting anyway. Facebook is to the internet what round robin letters are to the old economy.

    Linked-in : the ability to maintain a professional facade makes it much more comfortable to use, if a little boring. Good to keep in touch with under the pretence of it being for business.

    Twitter : somehow posting a micro-blog, however trivial, does not seem like baring your inner feelings to the world, therefore again it is comfortable to use. Also it is not so embarrassing (tragic?) for a 40 year old to say that he has a Twitter profile than a Facebook page, and it is possible to be an online "voyeur" (not in the gross sense) like on Facebook whilst hiding behind the pretence of it being so that you can get useful and relevant information.
  • productful
    Hi all,

    Facebook - I have put a group up there ProductFul.com, if anybody would like to join, feel free. Conducted some preliminary research for consumers who might use my service and was a really quick way to get feedback. Also am registered for personal use, which is a handay way of keeping in touch with people..

    Linkedin - Mainly use this for making contacts and keeping in contact with people who I deal with in the business world, great resource for profiling yourself and your business to potential business partners or clients.

    Twitter - Use this for the personal and corporate side of the business, I have found it a good resource where people can find you, and you can find people with interesting articles and ideas of how to build your brand online.
  • jeromeespy
    I am using all three, simultaneously. I was downsized back in October and found it hard to find anything meaningful in the way of job leads.

    I began by using Linkedin to get my professional information out there for pure job prospects. I even include a Linkedin link on my resume. This has produced a couple of solid interviews.

    I use Facebook as a connector to friends, networking and to just blow off steam about the job search process.

    Twitter has become a more vital resource of late as I strike a balance between finding information and sharing thoughts on various topics.

    In general, I view Linkedin as purely professional, Facebook as social/networking and Twitter as a next wave amalgamation of the best of both worlds. @jespy
  • As a recruiter, I definitely use LinkedIn, FB, and Twitter in different ways. I'm kind of new to Twitter, but this is my input.

    LinkedIn-I love this site! I use it for professional networking purposes only, and have found nothing but valuable information from every contact I have. I am starting to participate in discussions and forums, and am expanding my network and promoting my business in ways I never thought possible.

    Facebook-I have to keep one of my social networking sites personal, so I'm using Facebook for connecting/reconnecting with friends and staying in touch. I always keep my profile picture professional in the event that future clients/candidates search for me. However, I choose only to connect with real friends and keep everything else private. I understand the importance of networking for my job, but I also believe that there is a line between my personal and professional lives.

    Twitter-I'm kind of using this as an "in-between" site so far. I have a mix of personal and professional followers, and want to keep it that way. Twitter to me is all about information and getting my name out there. By gaining followers and participating on Twitter, I feel as though my personal AND professional networks will grow.

    Hope that this helps!
  • Paula2009
    I use them differently.

    I read others' tweets to gain insights and knowledge more than twittering myself. Twitter has become one of my sources of knowledge, on top of ted.com, leading@google videos and harvard business review.

    I use Linkedin for job search purposes and connecting with other professionals. the linkage between me and other users are occasional.

    Facebook is my way of expressing what's on my mind. Instead of updating status, I actually add quotes, sometimes quotes I get from others' tweets. :-) I also use social bookmarking so I post TED videos, NYT articles and other things on my FB account.

    Net net, twitter is my knowledge platform, FB social and self-expression and Linkedin job opportunity site. I should add I mostly blog via Live Spaces to reflect.
  • xssnrg
    Facebook = family & close friends, colleagues only. Personal dialogue.
    LinkedIn = my professional profile, used for business contacts and discussions
    Twitter = ? I'm figuring it out. Enjoying the folks I follow - amazed that others choose to follow me. Am not in it to promote a business or sell a product so am enjoying the dialogue streams generally and appreciating insights
  • aralph
    I totally agree with Heather's post at the top.

    As a student, Facebook is the hub of my social life. It allows me to manage and keep up with friends from a variety of sources and view and participate in a lot of Facebook shared events and initiatives. I have some professional contacts, from industry people to professors, in my Facebook network - however, this is because I have friendships with them beyond my professional relationships. I check Facebook at least once daily, often more, along with subscribing and responding to mobile updates.

    I use LinkedIn exclusively as a professional networking tool, using it to add to my personal brand equity by leveraging the brands of my connections. I have email notifications from LinkedIn set to a minimum, meaning I only hear from my network when I log in, normally about once a week.

    While I've only joined Twitter within the month, I'm finding it is an incredible resource for sharing information and building relationships with a variety of people in many different networks. The most likable feature of Twitter is that the user can control who they connect with, how they connect with them, and control the depth of those relationships. In comparison to LinkedIn and Facebook, which essentially have a standardized set of communication mechanisms for users to leverage, Twitter enables individualized communications within its open networking concept.

    Adam Ralph
    @aralph
  • Debrah
    I keep my Facebook well connected to those people I can have face time with. Twitter is about having a conversation about an important topic.
  • I use a service to send messages to all three, but also post individually. Twitter gets a high volume of posts, a broad range of topics, responses and observations.

    I rarely post additional status messages to LinkedIn, though I do other things that keep my profile in the eyes of those who follow me, like answering questions when I can.

    Facebook, in addition to the posts that go to Twitter & LinkedIn also gets stuff meant to go to my friends and those who are more familiar with 1-2 status updates per day, rather than the 10x that number that go to Twitter.
  • After just 1 week on Twitter, I'm thinking it's WAY more fun than Facebook. Best of all, it's already a learning tool for me. I explain more in my blog post "why I'm a fan after 1 week trial of twitter": http://kate-is-pre.posterous.com/

    Thanks to Mr. Tweet for giving me a BIG boost when I started with Twitter!
    Kate
  • mingyeow
    Hey Kate, very glad we could help! =) I love your new term of why "new
    learning medium"
    You interested in a guest post? a more polished version of your blog posting
    will work well

    M
  • Ah quite and interesting question. not for just what you asked, but what you didn't ask...so I'll add it.

    I'm a new user on twitter, so it remains to be seen how I will really eventually use it, but as I start I'm using it for a few things. 1) communicate with people I wouldn't otheriwse have access to. People really tend to listen on twitter. 2) It gives me the chance to be the "social commentator that I really am, without having to get all into the big blog thing....I rarely have more than a tweet to start with. Microblogging is a great thing.

    Linkedin is a simple tool, that I'm really using to find professional contacts. As I search for a new job, it's an invaluable tool to expand on my resume, and say what I REALLY want to in a resume, but can't because that's not how you write those. At this point, I don't think I would want to work for someone if they didn't bother to read my linkedin profile. It lets me show the truth about how I think I am professionally, and show the results of companies that I have worked for, by showing who I'm connected to from those companies (and where they are now) Like they say "It's not what you know but WHO you know" - polite namedropping if you will.

    Facebook I use much like most people it seems. Making sure that I have a solid connection to old and new friends. Some place to share more personal happenings in my life, and really share & feel the love I have for and from those people. What I DON'T use Facebook for, is meeting new people..I can only think of one person I've met on Facebook....and that was a pure fluke.

    Left out of your question, are tools like myspace, Tagged (which I have dropped for security breaches) and others like those. I use tools like those to actively meet people on a purely social level, with NO professional contacts having access to those profiles. I also direct people that I don't know, who've been recommended to me by friends, to connect to me there (myspace in particular). I don't want to have to control every little detail on my Facebook profile, and still want to meet new people - so I send them there. I use myspace as a primary outlet for social activities (like "casual gaming" ) that require "friends" .....I'm willing to be "friends" with TONS of people I don't know (and don't really need or care to know) so that Ican enjoy those things. I don't want my Facebook cluttered with a bunch of people I don't know. And honestly, I've met two ofmy very best friends online, and through Tagged (I was sure bummed to see them not care they have MASSIVE problems)

    Also to note: I'm using ping.fm to simultaneously update my status on all of the above (facebook, twitter, linkedin, myspace) I put out one or two status broadcasts each day now, and they go to all those. I try to keep those broadcasts palatable for a wide, disparate audience. (Friends, potential employers, former collegues, Random gamers)

    It's what I do with that first status line that is different on each. Linkedin....it just sits there - a thought for the day. Myspace, well I go update my Mood later....sometimes I get a comment or message based on the status, and maybe I make a new friend because of it. Facebook....those status lines get commented on a lot, andstart many discussions, not unlike the comment discussion here. and on twitter, it's just the starting point for the day. While I don't change the status too much on the other three through out the day, I may post several related tweets right after the first status broadcast. And then move onto other discussions as people sing in their own tweets.
  • Just started using Twitter, @peppertreecards, and am fascinated by the endless possibilities. Discussions like this are great and very educational while I get my 'twitter-legs.' Thanks for the post and the great comments!
  • Lori
    I use facebook for family and close friends linked in for jobs and twitter as my main community.
  • We obviously use Twitter and Facebook to network with others about isses.

    Twitter allows one to not only be concise as someone pointed out but also it saves time for the reader to engage qucikly. On the other hand, as a father of children, knowing we are going to use these medium as well as text, I would like to see more interfaces with blogs or areas where you have integrated areas for longer communication. It is an internal conflict where creating short concise messages is wonderful while not killing the art of writing and communications and especially for kids learning to communicate. I know this is off point but, I see kids with limited vocabulary and lack of communciation skills.

    So, I love the ability to interact with the past and present and certainly with the future but, let's all try to help our youth to gain eloquent comminucation skills before we teach them to abbreviate them.

    Finally, I see the distinct need for both a personal and business acount. One where you can push business information and the other where you can be a participant in a meaningful conversation. Man (or woman) does not have 50,000 friends......or maybe if we did the world would become a better place. I see twitter as the pen pal of the 21st century. We can keep in contact with friends, make new friends and espouse our ideologies to those on a personal basis in far flung places in the world.

    Charles Phillips
    www.twitter.com/ushousing
  • Great information. trying to intermingle Twitter,Tweet, and Facebook? How does one do that?
  • Twitter and Facebook is where I mash together personal and business. LinkedIn is my stuffy corporate virtual resume that wants to be more personal (Amazon reading list, WordPress app)
  • I am using them separately- My friends/ family are on facebook, but they are not always part of my business side- I also do not think it would be professional for the business folks to see my 80's hair- which friends were kind enough to post on facebook... I work with aging adults and families in crisis, I think I need both pieces for my sanity.
  • Each venue has a different purpose. Facebook has exploded and become an adult MySpace to me. Lots of conversations and invites and personal conversation. It is a a great way to stay in touch with friends and family.

    LInkedIn is your professional side. It carriers a different look and format for networking with not a lot of conversation taking place. It is a virtual resume that I keep building. I have found expertise and guidance on this site. The application that can be added also change the look and feel of your homepage.

    Twitter is so different I think folks are still learning not only why but how to use it. Myself included. Most important to me is that I think this is the platform to gain clients and maximize my business. There is a lightness to it because you give of yourself and receieve back with minimal words. How to make achieve the best for my clients and customers here and thus do better in my life is the question.

    All three are important and each has to be nurtured. I don't seem the three overlapping nor integrating. Interesting times for social networking.

    My question is " what is the next platform?". That is what I keep trying to get my head around.
  • I don't use Facebook. I didn't go to college found it to be no better than MySpace. I don't use either now.

    I am on LinkedIn but aside from connecting with colleagues I have yet to find a purpose for it.

    Twitter I thought was going to be silly but I am totally addicted as it fits my personality so well. I truly micro-blog on Twitter. Little thoughts, feelings etc that are too brief to merit a full blog entry, go on Twitter. I am starting to use it to market my jewelry as well.
  • Uncster
    Facebook: Only Family, *GOOD* Friends and *GOOD* Work friends.
    I had to cull to get to that point - at first I had old schoolfriends etc that I hadn't seen in over a decade - then I realised there is a reason you drift away from people - I self censor a bit because of family and work related friends. There are a couple of Work friends that I added back when I first started using facebook that would rather not have, but it would be job suicide to remove them.

    Twitter: I make it a rule to not knowingly add anyone I know IRL - I just use it to ask random questions, dribble on about random events, and try and help out people I find interesting - as I don't know anyone IRL there is also no need to censor myself.

    I don't do linkedin, yet. My wife and I may be starting a business in the second half of this year - and if we do it will used strictly for business - and wont be under my usual internet name or addresses.

    I have a couple of old gaming forum accounts from when I used to play online shooters - I let my inner child out there.
  • nikini_au
    I completely agree. Facebook is 100% social and I would never consider adding clients or colleagues to Facebook. Twitter, on the other hand, I use only at work and only for professional conversation. For me, Twitter merges the networking function of Linked In as well as enabling me to keep up to date with the ad/marketing/digital industry much easier than if I were to scour the internet for blogs and subscribe to newsletters.
  • Erica Friedman
    I am definitely using different social networking services differently. On Facebook, I'm more inclined to "converse," where on LinkedIn I find I am more about using the Answers to generate leads.Twitter allows me to share information and learn from others in my field, a kind of peer group resource.

    Cheers,

    Erica Friedman
    Yurikon LLC
    Intelligent Business Promotion
    http://twitter.com/Yuricon
  • I use Facebook for my social networking and Twitter for my blogging. For a while I had Twitter set my Facebook status, but eventually I realized I wanted to do different things with the two services. Also, my Facebook profile is private, but my Twitter stream is public. I use Facebook to stay connected with people that I already know, but am using Twitter to connect with people who I probably don't already know but would be interested in knowing.
  • @leonam
    Facebook was appealing at one time, less so now. I peek in occasionally to see who is up to what, but I've been one of the many who have accepted 'friends' to avoid insulting someone who I probably wouldn't even define as an acquaintance (friends 30 years ago in grade school...sigh) Family members and a select few would be who I really communicate with.

    Linkedin is a different story. Most business acquaintances I'll accept and as another comment suggested it is largely about your public, professional profile. I don't post updates here and I've only connected (through referrals) with a few folks purely through this site. Ultimately I like to watch what's happening on my professional landscape - flurries of activity, profile updates, qualifications or referrals, generally mean someone is about to jump ship (or has just been thrown overboard).

    Twitter to me is the most interesting space; like an ongoing idea exchange, although spiced with a component of open dialogue. I believe that I am exposed to more interesting, creative and compelling individuals based on the quick link's, @responses and RT's. More bang for my buck that the volumes of RSS feeds that I get linked to long blog posts. I like the ability to scan, select and move on or promote as I see fit.
  • I have to admit - I jumped on Facebook long before I got into Social Media use for work. So it started out totally personal, and as I dug into more of the true business networking I worked my profile over and stopped with many of the useless apps and such.

    Facebook Use: Professionaly Personal Networking Tool.

    We are real people with real thoughts and experiences. I use Facebook still for personal, but also make it known that i am using it for business. I get no more raunchy posts on my profile. I find value in two places primarily. Networked Blogs and Store Pages, which I create and maintain for many of my online clients.

    LinkedIn: Professional Networking and Information Sharing.

    I have been using it more and more and gain most value from the groups I belong to. If the groups are light on spam posts there is great value in some of the information shared in the discussion threads within the groups.

    Twitter: Networking with Fun Twist

    I very much enjoy the relationships I am building on Twitter, and sometimes even the simplest quote that is tweeted inspires me for a blog post. I give and share and share whatever i find to be valuable and give it freely. Twitter is an information source full of friends. Growing every day.
  • I have a comic strip up about this located at:

    http://www.implementingscrum.com/2008/01/15/soc...
  • Ben Day
    I don't use Linked In but as a Radio & TV presenter, Twitter is a handy way for listeners and viewers to be able to connect with me and talk directly - I'm able to use Twitter to ask listeners for their views on topics being discussed on my breakfast show and get instand reaction. My Facebook is personal and kept hidden so that only those people I know can access it (although I also have a Facebook Fan Page).
  • I personally never got into facebook because it seemed to be more of a "college" scene back in the day...I was to busy starting my own businesses to mess with it. I have used LinkedIn for some time now and have just recently begun to tweet and while I use both for business purposes, I don't see twitter replacing LinkedIn. That may just be because I have just started using twitter, so who knows, I may change my mind. What I have noticed is that I actually have FUN tweeting, which I NEVER thought would be the case. That point alone may have me completely replacing LinkedIn.
  • Suz
    Linked In: Professional Facebook: Personal Twitter: Entertainment
  • Well, guess what? Facebook just started the twitter way of posting your minute by minute activities, online or in real life. The platforms may be different, but I find that people are enjoying both sites as their tools to share what they wanna share online. LinkdIn on the other hand is yes, mainly for professional users. People with businesses to promote and education backgrounds to be proud of. I use all three (though I don't have much to share on LinkdIn ;-)).
  • Mary Jaensch
    As a newbie to most of these platforms, I am also finding that I use them very differently. Facebook is purely for maintaining personal relationships with folks that are a bit distant from my day to day interactions - easy way to stay in touch with what is going on in their lives and great way to share pictures. Kind of like a year round XMAS letter. Rarely use it to schedule personal social events.

    LinkedIn is purely for providing a face of my firm to the business public - for investors, recruiting employees, finding resources.

    Twitter - still trying to figure out. Fun to follow other folks and I have learned a lot. But I have not yet established a twitter personality or role for me speaking to a general public. Also trying to figure out if Twitter (because of its public nature) has any role for my business
  • I am using all these three with difrferent style
    FB just with collegues & personal entirely.

    Twitter-Actually i didn't understand twitter

    Linkedin-Discussing professional topics all around
  • Nope. Don't care much for Linkedin (Is that a Sin?), Mainly use Twitter to update my photo/blog site www.joeygunz.com. See my twitter badge there. I also use Twitter to update my Facebook Page.
  • I use Facebook for keeping in touch with family , friends and meeting up with old friends and people from school. I have been using facebook for some time now. I just recently started using Twitter and Linked in. Linkedin is strictly for business. Networking , and giving referrals and recommendations. I still have a lot to learn about twitter and don't use it as much as Facebook. I was going to use ping to post on all htree , but I don't think I should mix facebook comments with the others.
  • Bob
    I love network marketing and helping people learn about nutrition and making money online
  • Mike Gero
    Think of these three social networks as three intersecting circles - each having their own unique space, but areas of overlap existing between the three.

    Facebook - For me, Facebook is a bit like my online "time machine". While I certainly use it to connect and keep in touch with my current circle of family, friends and acquaintances, I'm using it ever-increasingly to connect with the past - old high school and university guys and gals that I've fallen out of touch with, but still have interest in staying connecting. Almost everything that transpires on Facebook for me is of a purely personal nature.

    I did try connecting my Twitter status to FB for a while, but that just didn't seem to work for my FB friends, many of whom have little notion of Twitter an the out-of-context @ replies

    LinkedIn - is like my business family tree. I've been cultivating the connections for many years and this network has served me well for accelerating relationships, exploring new opportunities and introducing colleagues with mutual interests. It's purely business for me, although with some connections personnel interests bleed over.

    Twitter - twitter is like real-time brain food. For me, it's a great source of refinement to get the the news and blogs that interest me most. I keep on top of trends, and constantly build my network via conversation with others. While FB has an element of dynamism to it, I find it less so than twitter, where it's all about dynamic, evolving conversations and a great means of conversing with, and ultimately engaging those that you share common interests with. While it's a bit of blend between personal commentary and business, it definitely has more of a business flavor for me
  • allthatkaz
    Seems for me Facebook is purely for friends trying to stay in touch with me or get back in touch with me. The marketing, networking aspect hasn't caught on as much for me as with Twitter.
  • FixionImages
    Thank you
  • Frequency
    Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin
    Twice a day, Once a week, Once a month

    Why you use them and their users
    Twitter
    People you want to know and LEARN from
    The interesting thing about twitter, despite its apparent casual nature, is the amount of really useful information on it, if you're interested in what's being deliberated about. The twitter crowd seems to have a higher proportion of people who are globally conscious and who seem really passionate about what they do. They seem to have merged both their work and life in a meaningful way.
    Being on twitter is like entering a Mastermind conversation, which helps personal development.

    Facebook
    I think it's a mix between personal and professional networks.
    Friends whom I've at least attended school with, gone on a trip or interacted once with.
    The most common applications for me are: Photos, Wall, Inbox, Events. Btw, I apologise if I didn't take a quiz, post a list of 25 random things, play a poker game, access my Pet Society account.. nuff said.

    LinkedIn
    A good way to have an online CV? I know I'm not maximising the potential of it, but I found twitter..

    Cheers,
    Ryan
  • I initially used twitter to easily update the news and updates section on my website. Even though it wasn't difficult to update before, having twitter auto-post to my site was a huge improvement. It allowed me to make updates from anywhere I could access twitter and it also provides a nice archive of what I've been up to. I'm just now starting to use Mr. Tweet and twitter search to find people who discuss topics I'm interested in.

    I don't have a facebook account and am not sure I could keep up with my personal site, a blog (coming soon), twitter and facebook. Might spread me too thin.
  • Facebook = staying connected with friends, family, and some business associates.

    Twitter = Connecting with and following interesting people. Many of which I don't know in person.

    LinkedIn = business only.

    They all interconnect in some ways, as I've made new friends on all 3, discovered interesting people, organizations, and web sites on all 3, and have networked on all 3.
  • Claire
    That's why I hate when my work colleagues friend me on FB. I loose my FUN place.
  • Rox
    When I am on facebook it is for a personal use. Originally I went on facebook for professioanal until all my friends and family found me. Which I do like having contact wth them however, I am a professional Sales Manager and Recruiter so I was looking at social networks as a means to become more connected professionally. Then I started on Linkedin which is completely professional. I have been on it for 1 year and it has remained my professional network. I am not quite sure where Twitter will take me. I am still trying to figure it out. It sounds like it should be geared toward more professional usage, however, some of the stuff on it I like for personal usage??
  • Annette
    Since I started using Twitter I use FB less. Now that FB puts every little action onto everybody's page I don't like to have Twitter update my status on FB automatically because I feel guilty for cluttering up the pages of people who only use FB for all their social networking. I think my friends should only be exposed to my clutter voluntarily.

    I use a conversational style across all platforms.
  • Linkedin:

    I see this platform as an interactive way for folks to share their educational and professional bodies of work, and use their relationship capital to leverage their career, or someone else's via a referral.

    Facebook:

    I see this platform as the "watercooler" of today. Being able to become engaged with people on a more personal level. Whether it's getting to know friends and classmates from middle school, high school or college, current and former work associates, or even customers, this platform allows you to really "get to know" them on a more personal level, all on your own time.

    Twitter:

    This developing platform seems to to be able to spark ones' curiosity from the links and comments posted by others. I've yet to truly delve into the twitterverse too deeply, but I'm sure there have been and will be some very special things coming out of this communications platform
  • Mick Lee
    I use MSN in that familiar way however, I tend to be more formal when using other social networking sites/tools. The main difference being that my MSN account only has family and friends on it and that may be the difference.
  • Facebook: For interacting with family & friends. Status updates tend to be more personal than on other networks. Post links/videos but not too much because facebook news stream moves slower than other networks and people will un-friend you for overposting.

    Twitter: Sharing anything I find online (or is going on in my life) that has meaning to my community. Rapid posting is more acceptable, just don't over do it.

    LinkedIn: Strictly professional. Started off mainly as a network for adding co-workers or people in my industry. Has developed more now that there are groups & status updates which I only really check when I get the bulk weekly digest email. Will be an important source if I find myself in un-employment. This social network is expected to become more popular in the future.
  • Tom McPhaul
    Going crazy trying to add twitter to my facebook. Whats a simple way to do this.
  • Well, i think that the way that we use the different social media has similar characteristic to how we react in face to face social gatherings.
    I'l explain:
    Facebook: It's on a friends related base. You "see" each other every day, read 10 statis changes a day, you see photo albums of each other and can send gifts, etc. It's a relationship, and you have more depth in it. The other users get the chance to see your personaily in 360 degrees.
    Tweeter: actually reacting to each other is less personal, the photo/gifts /games applications are almost non existed, and it only stays relevent to a very short period of time. I would say Twitter is more like a small talk. Where you try to be funny, interesting and smart in a very short peroid.
    Linkedin: Is a buisness call, it's you have an almost accidental meeting with someone, given a one chane to impress him with your resume', and there you'd probably won't waste time in joking around.

    I hope my massege was clear. The more volume the social platfrom gives you to intreduce yourself, the more you'll "be your social self".
  • Take a look at http://jejot.com/p/help, it might suit you.
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