Blogger: Mary Keeley
Location: Books & Such Illinois Office
Twitter has approximately 20 million loyal users. The number of drive-bys, so to speak, is diminishing. In response, Twitter is repositioning itself as distinct from Facebook and the others. Almost a year ago Twitter executives expressed the desire to become “the pulse of the planet” rather than a “social network.”
The result is a different definition for users of Twitter than a few years ago. There is a high degree of brand following and brand loyalty. Those users with a strong following are much more likely to multiply the influence of their brand than their friends on Facebook. It appears the strategy of the Twitter executives is to attract those who have or want to create a brand, loyal brand followers, which, in turn, attracts more users to Twitter.
Here are some statistics about Twitter users courtesy of Daniel Flamberg, founder and managing partner of Booster Rocket, a consulting organization:
- 75% of active Twitter users are bloggers.
- 70% comment on other blogs.
- 61% write at least one product review per month.
- 56% write articles for third-party sites.
- 53% post videos online.
- 50% contribute to wiki sites.
- 48% share deals and coupons.
These users share! We’ve grown accustomed to thinking that because Facebook has more than 750 million active users (most current number from Facebook), it’s the best place to promote yourself and your brand. But this Twitter data should not be underestimated. It shows solid word-of-mouth–or Tweets-of-mouth–potential. If you can engage followers with you about your brand, loyal followers are grown. This can happen on Facebook too, of course, but perhaps not with the concentration, purpose, and type of person that Twitter attracts.
Here is a link to a study The New York Times commissioned to gain understanding of those who participate in social media sharing and their reasons for doing so:
http://www.slideshare.net/mitchiru/the-psychology-of-sharing-by-nyt-cig-httpnytmarketingwhsitesnet.
The findings are shown in a slide presentation that might seem pretty dull on the surface. But as you watch, I hope you will gain some insights into how to increase your social media effectiveness. Let me know!
Your turn. What have your experiences been with various social media networks, Twitter in particular? Have you observed the gradual shift in Twitter’s direction in the past year? If you are engaged in both Facebook and Twitter, how do you use them differently? Or do you use the same material on both? Are there areas of the social media world you need help with? Let’s see if we can help each other during our discussion.
Cheryl Malandrinos
I use Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. I share much of the same information on all of them, but Facebook has become too overwhelming and doesn’t seem as useful for branding as it once was. In order to find anything I want, I have to wade through a million posts about what people had for lunch or what games they’re playing or what quizzes they took. That’s what Facebook is all about, so you can’t complain, but I don’t use social media to stay in touch with people. I use it for business.
Twitter allows me to quickly post a blurb about interesting things, like what I am blogging about or what books I have on tour. I can share my book directly from Amazon’s home page with two clicks. I can retweet items of interest while there. I also found our about this neat site called paper.li that allows me to use my Twitter, Facebook, and RSS feeds to create a daily online newspaper. You can see mine at http://paper.li/ccmalandrinos. While there are some conversational posts on Twitter, they don’t seem to be as frequent as on Facebook.
What I can’t seem to figure out is to how to increase my following substantially. When I look at the tens of thousands of followers some users have, I wonder why. I know that I don’t religiously post to Twitter every day, but even after two or three years of use, I have under 1,000 followers. I ran an experiment in January where I spent half an house a day retweeting posts of interest. This did gain me more followers, but not a huge amount. I also don’t want Twitter or any social networking site to suck away all my time.
Thanks for the great post today, Mary. I look forward to more discussion on this topic.
Cheryl Malandrinos
One other thing I should have added about social media is how crippling it can be to your freedom of speech when you’re branding a product or yourself. I would like to retweet or like on Facebook items of national interest, but I found I can’t even make mention of an article from a certain news site without being the recipient of nasty comments. If I’m trying to sell books, that’s not good. Yes, I could set up separate accounts so I can post things like that, but is it worth the time and effort? I don’t think so.
Rich Gerberding
I’m active on FB, and have a twitter account (gerberding) that is rarely used.
My pet peeve is those who post everything to both, made worse if they have multiple accounts or lists (personal, work, ministry)
I like being informed, but not 6-8 times from the same person.
On FB, I have a personal page, a men’s minstry, a movie ministry, and just started one for my WIP. There is some overlap, but I’d rather focus to communication and encourage people to follow the groups that fit them.
To often messages feel like SPAM.
No matter how good a friend you might be, I’m unlikely to charter a private jet to join you for dinner 2000 miles away that starts in 2 hours, but thanks for the invitation. (!)
Tanya Cunningham
I have found Twitter more helpful than Facebook when it
comes to online networking. It seems easier to get people
to follow you on twitter than to get a “like” on Facebook.
However, one thing that I think is difficult with twitter is
the number of tweets throughout the day. I find I’m less
likely to be interested in what someone says if they tweet
20 – 30 times a day vs someone who tweets a few times
a day. I’ve also recently discovered the value of “lists” to
focus on topics/followers more relevant to me. Thanks
for the great topic! 🙂
Loree Huebner
It took me awhile to learn the in’s and out’s of twitter, but I love it. It’s a very useful tool. I’m not a big tweeter. I do tweet my blog posts and retweet other writers blog posts, along with the random cheers and best wishes for other authors. I’ve also met some interesting writers on twitter who I now follow.
I’ve also found that if something is happening in the world…go to twitter. It’s being tweeted.
I have a personal fb for family and close friends only. I still feel that it’s too early to have an open fb fan page. When is the right time to create that? Before you get an agent or after? Or after a book deal?
Great post!
Cheryl Malandrinos
Rich, I understand what you’re saying. I know people who have multiple fan pages and personal pages, and at some point, you have to wonder, when is it enough.
Loree, what a great question. I would love to read the insight on that one.
Janet Ann Collins
I only tweet a few times a week and find Twitter more difficult to use than Facebook. But Facebook is making it more difficult to have posts be seen lately. People must choose to view posts from all their friends or they only get those from people they interact with often. I have over a thousand Facebook friends, but haven’t switched to a fan page because I’m afraid a lot of them won’t follow me there.
Peter DeHaan
I’m on Facebook, Linked-In, and Twitter (peterldehaan). At this point, I still trying to figure out how they can be used most effectively. This is a problem, since I don’t have much time to work with them.
For Twitter, I do a weekly tweet (aiming for something thoughtful, as opposed to trivial). I do have a few followers, but they have found me, I’ve done very little to promote it.
Regina Jennings
Twitter’s hashtags make it helpful in reaching like-minded people. They may have never heard of me, but if I make a comment on a topic that interests them, they come look.
Facebook is more personal, but people have to know your name to find you. I tend to make my FB posts more interactive and personal. My first book isn’t out yet, so most of my FB fans are friends, too.
I thought the fact that most twitter-users blog was very interesting. It makes sense. My website has been linked by bloggers who saw something I posted on twitter. Facebook definitely sends fewer people to my new website than Twitter does.
Cynthia Herron
Rich, your last line gave me my chuckle for the day.
Perhaps, the intent (of the invite) is to make you feel included more than overwhelmed? Just a thought…
Larry Carney
I agree with Cheryl: as writers we are communicators, and it can be quite the juggling to balance brand management with speaking truth.
Of course, if
Larry Carney
I wanted to juggle I would have joined the circus 🙂
Mary Keeley
Tanya, would you tell us the hows and whys you feel Twitter is better for online networking.
I’m getting the sense from everyone’s comments that you are in fact experiencing Twitter’s shift away from social network toward more purposeful networking.
Melissa K. Norris
Twitter is quite different from Facebook, but much easier. If you’re not getting followers, then you haven’t found your audience. Check out the way people post who you follow most. How many times a day, the tone, etc. Then figure out your target audience. Use the search button and interact w/ these folks. Plus, are you following others? Sometimes you need to be the first to follow, but make sure it’s a person you want to interact w/, not just for numbers. The Blogging Bistro log has lots of good articles on Twitter for authors. I suggest doing a search through her past posts.
I also don’t post the same things to my Twitter and FB author page. My audiences seem to be different and no one wants to see the same things. Though I do post my blog post and article links to both.
Mary Keeley
Great input, Melissa. Thanks!
Sarah Forgrave
Wow, very interesting stats, Mary!
I joined Twitter at the beginning of this year and have been amazed at how much more quickly my platform grew there than on Facebook. It’s a great place to grow a platform with a targeted group of people. I tend to keep my Twitter profile a little more business/writing-focused–sharing relevant links and tips and retweeting others (Hashtags are crucial). But I love connecting with friends socially there as well. I think it gives a safer environment to not feel as “committed” to someone as Facebook. You can follow others without giving up your firstborn, so to speak.
I tend to friend people on Facebook once I’ve developed more of a two-way conversation, and I keep my Facebook interactions more personal than Twitter. I think both platforms are valuable. The trick is figuring out the right formula for both, if that’s ever possible.
Eva Ulian
Hello Mary, Twitter, I find, is somewhat different to Facebook. Over the years Twitter has shifted its reason for being at the expense of social interaction among subscribers. It has now become more professional. Often on Twitter we get news first hand even before it is given out from news agencies. There is more information circulating about with relative links to the source. Twitter has also played a vital part in keeping contact among like minded people in uprisings, Iran, especially comes to mind. It is therefore also a means to spread ideologies- that is why it is treated as taboo in China. Facebook? Well, facebook is the people’s confessional, isn’t it? And that of course is not to everyone’s liking or suitable to everyone’s personality.
I do a lot of RT ing on Twitter and hash tagging because those are akin to what I stand for or in which I have an “invested” interest, maybe adding a comment and get to know people which may lead to a common bond. About half of those tweets, I post on my facebook friends page, because it may activate my friends’ interest or curiosity. I don’t post all because facebook is not so fast going as Twitter and if I post too many things on my wall, too fast, they may simply get lost and cause confusion. Only occasionally do I post a RT on my Like page as that is basically related to what I do and write.
Living in a remote area on top of a hill, internet is my communication with the rest of the world, so I use Twitter for this kind of contact, but I use facebook as a living room where friends come in and chat or sometimes I go to their house and chat or simply chat over the garden fence- but chat it is and not all, if any is futile.
Mary Keeley
Sarah, I see you’ve already experienced the benefits Twitter offers your platform. Your comment essentially verifies that the Twitter executives are accomplishing their goal in attracting purposeful users. Thanks for sharing your tips!
What great descriptions of Facebook and Twitter distinctions and how you make both work for you, Eva. Very helpful! I love the “communication” and “living room” comparison.
Eva Ulian
Thank you Mary, I learnt quite a bit from your article.
Sarah Sundin
I’ve found writers/bloggers find me on Twitter, but readers find me on Facebook. Interaction on Twitter feels impersonal and disjointed, but I do like the links to great blog posts and the connections I’ve found in the WWII community (I write WWII fiction). Facebook is where I have fun – I get great response to my posts from readers, friends/family, and writers, and I really feel like I connect with people there. If I like someone on Twitter, I’ll seek them out on Facebook where I can get to know them better.
Both are necessary for me.
Rosslyn Elliott
Excellent article–thank you, Mary. And to prove your point, I’m about to tweet it. 🙂