If you’re just starting out with social media, you might be wondering which of the more popular sites you need to be on. While you’re learning the ropes, it’s often best to start with just one social media network and get used to it, make lots of quality connections and then go from there.
At this point in time, the two biggest sites to get started on are Twitter and Facebook. You may already be using Facebook, as a friend finder and such, but if you are planning to move into the world of internet marketing and social networking, then you will need to look at this carefully before making any decisions.
This site was originally intended as a site to help college grads find and connect with those that they studied with. However, over time it has changed drastically and is now quite popular among older people and business people.
Pros
- Set up business “fan” pages to reach non-friends
- Set up groups for any topic you like
- Adjustable privacy settings
Cons
- Can be perceived as unprofessional
- Your friends and family can see business posts and become offended
- Too many distractions in the form of games and such
Twitter is also a social medium and could be used to report your toothbrush foam quantity on a daily basis, but it is generally more respected as a business setting. It can take a bit to get the hang of Twitter, but it is something you will need at some point if you plan on making social media a part of your life.
Pros
- Well used and possibly the most popular real time social network available
- Relatively simple to start off with, post, @messages and private messages
- Extremely simple to connect with others
- Many big companies use Twitter
- A number of apps are available
Cons
- Big target for spam
- Information overload is VERY possible
It is really up to you as to which option you select as your first social media network. Both Twitter and Facebook are very good but you may be drawn to one or another once you’ve looked at the lists of pros and cons above. My recommendation is to use what you already have (Facebook) but also jump on Twitter as soon as you can. JJZDYX5TUMAZ
Which social media would you recommend to a beginner?
I think the Twitter is much better than Facebook.
Yeah, I too agree the Facebook have many distracting features.
I think Facebook is much user friendly than twitter.
Twitter gets to the point. Facebook home pages and comments ramble on about things you may not even care about, whereas on Twitter you can filter those out and engage in a productive and well-focused conversation.
I get that question all the time even in a corporate setting. However my answer is always the same. Start by understanding your strategy and how social media fits into your overall marketing mix/strategy before jumping into a specific tactic/tool; for example, given your current activities (it is always easy to start with what you know) how can social medial enhance/amplify/complement these activities. Then and only then look for a tool that will provide the type of tactics needed to deliver your strategy. Very often I see corporations/SMBs and/or people jumping into a tool (facebook, Twitter, etc) w/o understanding how this effort will help them in their marketing efforts.
I agree with Diego….Before choosing any of the two, first recognize which of tool will be the best suitable for your overall marketing strategies .
I prefer working on twitter. I think it is easy to understand.
Yeah….I work a lot on twitter and its going great for me.
I agree with Ana, Twitter is great place for expanding the social contacts
I think both are good if used wisely, there are options which we can use and get more promising results.