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You analyze all your friends and what they’re up to online.  You’re constantly checking your page to see if anyone has written you or posted anything new.  You are excited each time you find another old face popping up online- it’s a honeymoon and you are head-over-heels.  But after a few months the excitement dies down and you begin to shift into maintenance mode.  The constant checking switches into an “email mode” where it’s more routine than exciting.  Also you notice that the amount of new friends you’re adding has died down to an occasional addition. After a while you’re pretty much done adding new friends and get into a Facebook funk.  That’s ok.  It’s natural.

But what about as the months go on and random people who you once knew or who you weren’t really friends with at all back in the day start getting in touch?  What about the box on your profile that says “You have 237 friends.”  What does that mean?  Are they really all your friends? Should you stop friending people because you are only acquaintances and not really “friend-friends” with them?

A lot of us have desired to go on long de-friending binges on Facebook; slashing and cutting our friend lists back to a thinned out core collection of our “real” friends.  But what about for your business or organization- should you just add whomever to your friends list or try to keep your Facebook list to just the real people in your life who you are actually friends with?

Try to think of it like this:  Obviously everyone who is your “friend” on Facebook is not your truest and dearest friend.  Most research suggests that it’s actually impossible to have more than a few close friends and that most people in the world only have a few; less than 5.  That’s ok.  That’s what friends are- a small, select inner circle.  Now switch to Facebook’s perspective.  Facebook succeeds by keeping people online and by extending the conversations and discussion that are happening.  ”Friends” is just a word they picked.  That’s ok too. Better then calling Facebook users “units.”

So as you’re Facebooking remember that your inner circle of friends will be your friends no matter what.  You don’t have to sell your product or service to them online.  But also remember that everyone on Facebook either needs your service or knows someone that does. It’s not “unfriendly” to let them to know you’re out there and keep the lines of communication open.

Bottom line:  A social network is a commodity-driven product.  People are the commodity.  ”Friends” are commodities.  Your true friends will be your true friends even if Facebook disappears tomorrow.  For everyone else you’re friends with, go ahead and call them your friend, it doesn’t mean you’ll ever see them in real life but it’s the nature of the beast in the online world.

2. You establish yourself as more relevant than your competition who is not using Twitter.

3. You gain experience in how to package content in a short space (aka speak the language of the internet).

4. You create another online asset to be found by search engines.  Once it’s out there it’s working for you.

5. You can convert your twitter RSS feed into an iphone app very easily and for a couple hundred bucks.

6. You can have your Twitter automatically update your Facebook without having to login.

7. The Twitter mobile apps are extremely easy to use and less complicated than Facebook.

8. Twitter has a global search return that a private or semi-private Facebook account doesn’t.

9.  Twitter has a very narrow focus/protocol that will be easier for a newby to learn than other social networking tools.

10.  Twitter lets you find new contacts based on affinities like “sports” or “Boston grocery stores.”  Other social networks, not so much.

To hear Twitter themselves talk about why you should use them check out this article:

]]> http://themunichgroup.com/blog/2010/02/14/social-media-goals-not-tools/feed/ 1 http://themunichgroup.com/blog/2010/02/10/know-your-audience/ http://themunichgroup.com/blog/2010/02/10/know-your-audience/#comments Wed, 10 Feb 2010 19:32:56 +0000 Munich Blogger http://themunichgroup.com/blog/?p=15 Check out this chart- It shows a sample breakdown of what your potential audience might be using in the way of social media.  A lot of times usage and channels varies depending on WHO the audience is.  Just because Twitter is insanely popular doesn’t mean that if you’re a mortician it’s going to help your business.  Get a sense from your current clients and potential clients about where they’re spending their time online and what they’re doing there.  If your target audience is on youtube then it sure makes sense to be creating quality content in video.  If they’re hardcore bloggers then start writing.  If Twitter is a big one for them then start tweeting.  The lesson of the day is just because you are spouting quality information doesn’t mean that it’s on a channel people are watching.  Speak the right dialect at the right time on the channels people are already watching.