Updated... The jury is still out for me on social networking opportunities beyond LinkedIn and my blog. As an experiment, I decided to explore both Twitter and Facebook.
Facebook was definitely a better initial experience. The night I joined Facebook, one of my sisters found me within minutes. Then a niece. A high school friend. ... I had like six connections in the first two hours. And my sister used the chat feature to help me get set up. When I joined Twitter... silence. Just a deep breath and a thought that I was on my own figuring this thing out.
However, Twitter has more of a momentum for me, because you update your status on the fly.If you are someone who constantly updates your LinkedIn or other profile status, then you would probably enjoy Twitter.
Which one is better for finding work? I have no idea. Facebook will connect you to a large social circle who really cares about you. You'll be surprised by all the people who remember you fondly. However, Twitter may have more of a business application.
Twitter is also confusing and complicated. Here are some things I've learned in my limited experience: You can try free TweetDeck to better organize your Twitter posts. And I saw some advice to use your actual name as your Twitter name, to maximize your brand, so I do think I'll keep it somewhat active, just to keep my username @AnnGrove. If you already have a user name, you can change it, but first let your account be inactive for a week or so (without adding new people to follow or whatever) because there is no forward. When people get a note that you are following them and they try to follow you back after you've changed your name, they won't be able to find you.
Also, people won't be able to find you in the public directory for days or weeks after you sign up. And you have to start tweeting in order to show up everl. Don't bother to ask the Twitter team about it; that's just the way it is.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009 at 11:34AM