Facebook & Twitter: A Love Hate Relationship
by Stacey
A few months ago, I met Shana through one of my favorite blog link-ups, Modern Mrs. Darcy’s Twitterature. We have been sharing our thoughts on each other’s blogs since then and I have so enjoyed getting to know Shana through her writing. A few weeks ago, I realized that Shana was often sharing my posts on Twitter and my usual Twitter-angst returned. I have tried on and off over the years to understand what happens in the mysterious Twitter-verse and I’ve been unsuccessful. I get overwhelmed and leave shortly after I arrive.
While I was not able to share Shana’s posts on Twitter because of my own confusion, I knew that I wanted more people to read Shana’s writing, so I hopped on over to Facebook to share there. That was when I discovered that Shana was not on Facebook. And right around that same time, Shana mentioned in a post or a comment that she was hoping to tackle her own Facebook confusion.
What!? I couldn’t believe it. Someone who has mastered the crazy world of Twitter but wasn’t on Facebook? This made no sense to me. I e-mailed her right away and so this mini blog series was born.
Over the course of three posts, Shana and I are going to come clean about our social media strengths and areas for improvement, our questions and what we have learned along the way. I hope that lots of people join our conversation. If Shana is intimidated by Facebook and I don’t ‘get’ Twitter, than I know there are a lot more people like us out there. Both platforms have so much to offer so I hope this conversation will be fun and useful for us all.
Since when?
I have no memory of deciding to get on Facebook so I had to go back to see when I wrote my first post. According to my timeline, I joined in May of 2008. When I saw this, I thought it must be wrong. I always assumed I had been on Facebook for much longer than that. Turns out though that May of 2008 was five and a half years ago and that actually does seem about right (enter cliche about time passing quickly here). As far as Twitter goes, I joined in March of 2012 during a conference on social media.
Why Facebook?
When I joined Facebook, I didn’t put too much thought in to the decision. Initially for me, it was a place to stay in touch with friends, to watch children grow and to learn lots of interesting literacy tidbits. Over time though, I began to see that it had possibilities for me as a writer as well. I began to post links to my blog and my readership soared. I find it easy to have conversations with friends and readers after I post and I also find sharing incredibly simple. I enjoy reading other people’s thoughts on posts and am often draw to readers and writers that I enjoy after reading their thoughts on a friend’s Facebook post.I feel comfortable posting on Facebook when something comes to mind but equally comfortable putting a thought aside to post about later.
Why not Twitter?
As I mentioned above, I joined Twitter as part of a homework assignment at a social media conference. I have tried and tried to embrace this form of connecting. I can tweet and I can re-tweet. I can share links. But that is where my understanding ends. I don’t understand how to post a modified tweet. I can never follow a question and answer between two other people. I know that I am missing out on so much information and so many connections that it drive me nuts. I have often heard Twitter referred to as a giant cocktail party. My father always called cocktail parties, “stand up and shouts.” When I was younger this made no sense to me. I loved a fun cocktail party. As I’ve gotten older though I’m afraid I am starting to understand where my father was coming from. When too many people are talking all at once, I find it hard to focus. I wonder if this is what is happening to me with Twitter? I also feel worried about the timeliness of tweets. I feel like I have to be on Twitter constantly to stay connected and that stresses me out.
So. Here’s to the beginning of an interesting conversation. I can’t wait to learn more about the worlds of Facebook and Twitter….
I’m so excited to follow along in this new series! I too am in awe of Shana’s mad twitter skills. (I think we met in a similar way that you too did, but we have the unique connection that my hometown is only 30 minutes from where she lives, so I’ve actually gotten to meet her!). Some of the social media stiff that goes along with blogging seems like so much extra work to me (don’t get me started on Pinterest!) so I am curious to see how other people make it work.
I hear ya. Instagram, too. They both overwhelm me!
So funny! I love Instagram. I am starting to think there must be some kind of personality trait link to what we love in the social media world. I do wonder what it all means!
I was a Twitter person before I was a Facebook person. Facebook used to freak me out, not so much anymore. I tend to use Facebook more now, mostly because of the groups, so easy to plan things with other mamas and discuss things I might not want to discuss on my page.
Most likely not use either to my advantage as far as driving traffic to my blog…maybe I will gain a few tips in your series 🙂
So glad you are reading along Kim. I’d love to hear why you like Twitter more than Facebook?
I’m looking forward to experimenting with Facebook. I’m not sure if it will ever equal my love for Twitter, but I know I can do A LOT more with it than I’m currently doing!
I know I can do a lot more with both! Maybe we can include a post in our series titled, “How to find more hours in your days!”
This is a great idea and I’ll be following along. I use both FB (personal and work)& Twitter (just work — Stacey I remember that first experience at the conference!)but I don’t feel I’ve hit my stride with either.
Hi Laurina! So good to hear from you! And I certainly haven’t hit my stride. Hoping to learn from Shana who has Twitter down perfectly!
lots of it confuses me. I tried to look at shana’s blog and it’s awesome but then couldn’t figure out how to follow her blog. And a long while ago I joined twitter to then never use it because I was very overwhelmed by it. But FB, I totally get it. cool post and thank you for the intro to shana.
Thanks Tracie. I completely agree. There is so much good stuff out there it is easy to get overwhelmed.
i am physically, mentally, and emotionally incapable of twittering. or tweeting. or whatever. i just don’t get it. doesn’t seem like any connection. i get facebook…i just don’t have time to keep up with my ‘real’ life and ‘real’ job and social media. so therefore i will probably never be able to quit my ‘real’ job. 😉 but IG…i love it. i love the connections and interactions. my daughter is PR major so i’m expecting when she graduates that she’ll be able to help me. 😉 hehehe
I really am finding this whole conversation so fascinating. It really does seem like our brains are programmed to function in a few of these social worlds but not all. I too seem to be comfortable in FB and Instagram but not Twitter. Really so interesting to me.
All understandable fears, Stacey. You know I love Twitter. I wish I could convince you of a few important truths:
-You do NOT have to be on Twitter all the time. Just like you don’t have to attend every party in real life. The parties you attend? You get something out of them. The ones you miss? Fine, there are always more. Is that a good metaphor? So hop on when you can and don’t worry about the rest of the time. I know that’s just one of your worries. Did you ever see my posts on Twitter? Not sure if they will help or make it worse. 😉
That is a good metaphor! Thank you for that. And I just went and searched Twitter at your blog and I have not read your series before. I can’t wait to read it. Between you and Shana I think I might be able to conquer my Twitter fear after all!