Social networking is a huge part of the Internet, providing the means
for us all to connect and communicate quickly and easily. There are
both positive and negative
aspects to the very act of social networking, but most of us take part
in the activity on at least a part-time basis. Most of us doing so on
more than one site.
This complexity of connectivity makes it very tempting to combine the
various social networks we use. The mindset being that by integrating
them all, one update posts to all of my family, friends, colleagues, and
followers. It’s a nice idea in principle, but in practice it’s a
potential road to ruin that could result in, at the very least, a severe
case of foot-in-mouth disease.
Different Networks For Different Groups
To understand why integrating these three social networks isn’t such a
good idea it’s crucial to first understand the differences between
them. There is obviously a certain amount of crossover between the
three, in terms of userbase, connections, and appropriate updates, but
generally speaking Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn exist in their own
bubbles with their own separate rules of engagement.
Facebook is the
biggest of all the social networking sites, with somewhere between 900
million and 1 billion user accounts. Not all of these are active, of
course, but it’s an impressive total nonetheless. Facebook is about as
mainstream as you can get now, with the userbase veering upwards in age
as the number of older people joining makes up for the younger
generation moving onto pastures new. Such as Twitter.
Facebook requires you to use your real name when joining, making it a
place for real people without the comfort of anonymity afforded by
other social networks. Facebook is extensively used as a resource for
real family and friends to keep in touch. So much so that people I know
online have rejected my Facebook friend requests because I don’t know
them in the “real” offline world.
Twitter is big
and growing ever bigger. It went from a niche service to a mainstream
behemoth in the span of a few months at the start of 2009. This was when
traditional forms of media starting dropping the name into conversation
and using the service as a news source. Twitter now boasts 500 million
active users, who between them push hundreds of millions of tweets out
every single day.
Twitter doesn’t require you to be your real self. It’s an optional
extra whether you have your account verified or not. Twitter is
therefore something of a Wild West in the world of social networks.
There is no mutual friending either. You follow who you’re interested
in, and people will only follow you if you’re interesting to them. This
means you’re communicating with mostly strangers most of the time.
LinkedIn is a
social network with a focus on the networking rather than the social.
It’s aimed more at a niche set of users than either Facebook or Twitter,
if you consider the act of networking in a professional context a niche
activity. The smallest of the three, LinkedIn boasts at least 150
million users at the time of writing.
LinkedIn has brought to the online world the idea of business cards
and introductions that have prevailed in the offline world for many
years. LinkedIn is your professional presence on the Web to show to
potential clients or partners. And through its network you can make new
contacts that may share mutual friends. This is much more about building
professional relationships than fostering personal ones.
Sending The Wrong Message
Now that we’ve established the very real differences between these
three social networks, it should be obvious to all reading this why
integrating your accounts on all of them is not necessarily such a good
idea. Writing an update or posting a link/picture/video to one and
having it send to all three is a potential disaster waiting to happen.
On Twitter you may want to gain followers by posting
a tweet intentionally designed to get a reaction. While random people
will love the snark, the less tech-savvy family members may take it
seriously, and business contacts may balk at the controversial nature of
it.
On Facebook you may have some personal news that
needs sharing with your nearest and dearest. While friends and family
will be keen to hear the news, Twitter people won’t care and LinkedIn
people may resent what they’ll undoubtedly consider spam and/or utter
gibberish.
On LinkedIn you may have some important work-related
gem to share with like-minded contacts. While those in your direct
field of employment will express interest, it will likely go over the
heads of all those on Facebook and Twitter. And rightly so too.
Conclusions
To sum up in as simple a way as possible: not all social networks are
interchangeable, so integration isn’t always the best policy. We all
have those off-days where our mouths (or in this case, fingers) engage
quicker than our brains, and on those occasions it’s far too easy to
send a message that won’t go down well with your contacts on at least
one of these sites. Think of this as a public service announcement.
Have you already integrated these three social networks? If not do
you intend to do so in the future? Let us know your thoughts on the
subject, whether you agree or disagree, in the comments section below.
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