FACEBOOK OR TWITTER

FACEBOOK OR TWITTER

 

I am a complete newbie to social media, sure I’ve watched videos on YouTube, seen reviews and blogs, even listened to the odd podcast in my time- but that was me using the Media, while deliberately steering away from the Social and Networking parts of the web. I don’t and have never had a Facebook account, I’ve never sent a tweet, uploaded a picture or tagged a friend. We’ve all seen or heard the horror stories about stalking, bullying and the religious radicalisation taking place on social media (www.telegraph.co.ukFivetopFacebookfiascos.html) but we’ve also been party to some of the great things that have happened because of social media. Just look at the recent refugee crisis and the public’s response there are a raft of good things going on across the web –(achttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDKmEPRuH_I).

I BELIEVE IT IS TIME TO BITE THE BULLET, take my first steps into the social networking world.

FACEBOOK

So I duly logged onto Facebook, completed the registration – giving my mobile number for security confirmation texts and was immediately asked to complete some of the questions for my timeline – simple easy and available to anyone over the age of 13, anywhere in the world as long as they have a valid email address 

It was created by Mark Zuckerberg and friends in 2004 while at college in Harvard, originally designed to keep the studentsin touch despite their crowded schedules, and named after the information guide given by the university to new students – its popularity was instantaneous and it quickly spread right across the web - So what exactly is Facebook and what make it so special that now over a billion and a half users are regularly using the site. SO WHAT IS IT?

 

 

 

 

SETTING UP MY PROFILE – The first thing iM invited to do is to set up my privacy settings, how public will my page be? Who will see what? How much do I want to see from other places and people? Do I want to set up groups of contacts from say Work or Zumba class or even just family to allow me more control over what I’m sharing – it’s all very bewildering but I soldier on….Now  I personalise it even more adding pictures from my album to my Profile and Page, I link it to my phone and email address books, YouTube and am invited to link to a multitude of other social media providers I may have an account with (allowing easy sharing of data, contacts, links and updates between them- and simplifying things for me). I then embellish my timeline adding in important dates, importing albums of trips long since gone, gigs attended, anniversary’s, graduations and all life’s little markers. (Facebook uses these to match you with others who share some of these experiences) I am encouraged to join groups and become part of communities to further my interests and links with aspects of my life. All this information is collated and used to personalise my NEWSFEED and the priority given to updates received. This feature can also beturned off and your news feed set to most recent showing all updates and shares as they come in. There is the usual  questions about education, location, likes and dislikes and were ready to get to it.

 Facebook is very much a social site but has its own place in business heaven as a marketing tool for all company’s large and small, Pages set up and Brands to follow, used to publicise and expose a world of different offers and services. In main Facebook remains the very social site it was originally set up to be, forging bonds and connections and maintaining friendships in today’s very busy lives. It’s very much about the people

FRIENDS-  No sooner than I had completed just a few quick questions about town and school history and Facebook was suggesting people I may know and offering me the chance to friend them. The speed and accuracy of their search astounded me as yes I did indeed know many of those they suggested. (I don’t know if that’s because I come from a small community where everyone knows each other or because it’s got a fantastic algorithm) Anyway I asked family members and a few close friends to befriend me and it grew from there – more family members asked me, wanting to share pictures and videos, friends I had ‘forgotten’ about or hadn’t seen for a long time popped up looking to reconnect with IM and chat. I have been invited to events and to join groups which ‘Friends’ KNOW I’ll like and through them I’ve made new friends and connections. I’ve clicked on links and liked and shared and each time met new people or reacquainted myself with others.

 Ways you can use face book to connect and stay in touch        

PHOTOGRAPHS and VIDEOS – Can be uploaded from most devices, can be taken and stored in real time, can be shared and tagged and automatically uploaded as taken, Can be kept in private albums or shared with the world. All available anytime from anywhere with an internet connection.

·APPS – Loads and loads of apps, apps for games, services, to personalise your page, to add themes. To lose weight, increase fitness, stop smoking, to reviews of everything, order food, cook shop you name it there’s an app for that. For every app there’s a chatroom, friends to be made and customers to reach. LIKE – A friend’s status or update, like their shares and links, add a comment to their video or pictures (this has started numerous conversations) this shows your approval and interest. LIKE on a Page be it charity, music or even a movie or Brand links you to this page and will update your newsfeed.  This is then shared on your timeline and with your friends

POKE – Just as it sounds, you can send an electronic nudge to one of your ‘friends’ this is private and not shared with your newsfeed. It draws the other person’s attention to you as soon as they log in.

 

TAG - When you tag someone, you create a link to their profile. The post you tag the person in may also be added to that person’s Timeline. For example, you can tag a photo to show who's in the photo or post a status update and say who you're with. If you tag a friend in

  your status update, anyone who sees that update can click on your friend's name and go to their profile. Your status update may also show up on that friend's Timeline. You can tag places and other media.
SHARE – And update, let people know what you’re interested in, what amuses you and what’s important. Invite comments and input, communicate To share a link to found content all you do is cut and paste the web address into your updates bar and add a comment for it to be shown on my

    timeline and those of my friends

 

 

PERSONAL MESSENGER – lets you talk to others privately via text, call or video call, so far I’ve had a chat online with my daughter via my laptop. I’ve had a call via Facebook on my pad from my parents on their arrival in Egypt and I changed my regular Skype call with Big Chris now of Colorado to video-calling on Facebook all with ease and success.

 

 

·  GROUPS AND EVENTS – Are set up by people and companies to keep up with what’s happening across certain interest areas- to expand your personal network beyond your personal and invite input from a wide range of people To be part of a group can also give you privacy and an area to share information with a chosen few, to discuss things you’d rather not share with Gordon from work or Great Aunty Margret. It allows you to support charities or get deals online

 

CONCLUSION ON FACEBOOK

Facebook is not scary it’s consuming, it sucks you in, entertains and educates, it overloads with information. It helps you feel connected but not. It’s addictive and its very, very clever, its far reaching. Its Global It’s a marketer’s paradise, access to the world’s population. Business never had it so easy, markets identifying themselves, selling themselves, using a truly social Network

  

TWITTER

Much enthused by my experience with Facebook I grabbed my phone to set up Twitter another popular and much lauded social networking site. Originally a micro-blogging platform, Twitter works by allowing its users to both send and read short 140 character updates (Tweets) and upload them to other Tweeters in real time. It also allows you to share private text conversation between users.

GETTING STARTED

Setting up my Twitter account was a lot quicker, it asked me for my name – suggesting a user name for me and giving me the option to choose my own. It then asked for the usual email address and mobile phone number to verify the account and sure enough within seconds I had received the activation code the next page was now asking me for. I was then asked about my likes or more WHO I liked. For each category from life I was given a list of people to add or ignore, from John Cleese in Entertainment to Authors in Literature. At the end of the list we were ready to go and I started to get people adding me to their accounts. Now this was a problem for me – I didn’t know any of these people, they were total strangers. This was when I realised that I hadn’t personalised my account at all, I had not set up any privacy rules or even been asked to add a picture to my account. I duly went into settings, set up security, added the picture and found how to change the colours and themes of my homepage.

Friends and Contacts

You can search for friends on twitter if they used their own name to set up the account if not you’ll need to know their user to use the search bar in find friends. You can use your contacts lists on your phone or email account to find friends already using twitter those that don’t can be invited via your account to join. You can use the recommendations it brings up,(I didn’t know anyone)  and the people you know may also add you (2 friends added me while I was still exploring privacy).

 

• Tweet - a Twitter single update of 140 or fewer characters, which can include @Mentions to other users, hashtags, external links, or simply regular text.

• Retweet or "RT" - taking a tweet from one user and posting it yourself, automatically crediting the source, so that all of your followers can see the tweet.
• TweetUps - Using Twitter to meet with other Twitter folks.
• Trending Topics (TTs) - "Trending Topics" lists a range of subjects which many users across Twitter are talking about simultaneously. When Twitter first got started, "Trending Topics" were those which were most popular during the span of the entire previous week. These days, the "Trending Topics" list contains things that thousands of people across the whole of Twitter are discussing at any one time.
• Promoted Tweets - A single trending topic which a company or organization can pay to 'trend', as to gain attention and traffic from Twitter users worldwide.
• Join conversations, have your say, this allows you to add others and they you, if you find them interesting or like their opinions..

•  Keeping in touch with my new friends is easy, tweet, retweet, send pictures or use the personal messenger to make plans.

 
CONCLUSION ON TWITTER

Twitter is main a news platform, it is useful for up to the second news from anyone anytime, the newsfeed updates continually.  Although this is useful if you’re a sports fan (for play by play updates)

or interested in current news stories,  celebrity scandals with the latest news and views it is also a powerful marketing tool with company’s tweeting on mass, promotions , competitions and products. Twitter I found to be impersonal  and just too much work, you would need to be on it all the time to gain the most benefit from it, combine this with strangers rants and moans  it has problems holding my attention. Not a lot of my friends use twitter, I’m not interested in celebrities or their views , its just not as warm and fuzzy as Facebook.

 

Social Etiquette

 

• No matter which SM site you use, whether you talk to people via, Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat or even just email them there a few things to remember

• Remember the person on the other end of the conversation is a HUMAN and treat them with respect, as though they are right in front of you – how would you speak to them if they were.

• Be careful with your personal details online,  don’t friend anyone and everyone they are strangers after all.

• Act your age, don’t embarrass your kids acting cool or make out your something your not.

• Only update the important stuff( no one wants to know about your bowel movements),  don’t comment on everything and be positive when you do – the biggest turnoffs on social media are negative people and continued drama.

• Don’t be a stalker and always ask before you tag, no one wants to feel hunted and everyone’s privacy should be respected.

• Use good spelling, grammar and watch how you phrase your comments, Giving backhanded compliments will surely get you into trouble at some point. As will shouting by typing in capitals.

• Be forgiving of others mistakes, we all make them and we would want them to be forgotten.

• Don’t use other peoples log in to others account, respect their privacy ant their right to have their say as much as your own

 

 

 

SOURCES

All Facebook. "Facebook Tutorial: How to Create a Facebook Profile." WebMediaBrands. (July 16, 2011) http://www.allfacebook.com/facebook-tutorials/facebook-profile-tutorial

Facebook. "Introducing the New Profile." (July 16, 2011) http://www.facebook.com/about/profile/

McIvor, Christine. "How to use Facebook." YouTube. Feb. 6, 2010. (July 16, 2011) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUnmowztKMQes

 

Sartain, Julie. "A newbie's guide to Facebook." Computerworld. April 1, 2008. (July 16, 2011) http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9070138/A_newbie_s_guide_to_Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/help/124970597582337/

http://weblogs.about.com/od/microblogging/ss/TwitterFollow.htm

http://www.sugarspunmarketing.com/blog/social-media-manners/#.VPz6BHysWNC

http://www.albion.com/netiquette/corerules.html