A case study on intersecting social media platforms

Last night, I attended Milwaukee's first Hashable event at Swig in the Third Ward. I was thrilled to be able to talk to founder and CEO Mike Yavonditte, who flew in from New York City for the event. For those of you who don't know, Hashable is a fairly new social media platform that tracks relationships. One frequent way it is used is that people add one of a number of popular hashtags (or make up their own hashtag) to their tweets on Twitter and direct the tweet to a person with @name. The connection is recorded by Hashable and uploaded to a site where users can see their inner circle of connections and the interactions they have with others. However, this post isn't really about Hashable, which is in its elementary stages. I'll be writing more about Hashable itself in the future.

At the Hashable event, which was coined #mkehashup, someone asked me to define the purpose of a social media consultant. That's an interesting question with no easy answer.

The social media space is broad and varied and people use it in different ways. As a social media consultant, I tell prospective clients that the platforms you use and how you use them depends greatly on your business and personal interests. I also remind them that each platform has a different audience and interactions in each space varies greatly as well.

However, interacting differently on each social media platform is the difficult part. The social media platforms are quickly intersecting with each other; and not always in a good way. What we may find convenient actually might end up costing us clients, customers, followers and friends in the end.

Let's say you own a local bar in town. As the bar owner, you have a professional LinkedIn page listing your personal experiences and education. For the bar itself, you've created a Facebook business page and a Twitter account. You've also offered specials on Foursquare so that when first-time patrons check in to your location, their first drink is on the house.

While you know that social media is important, you have a full-time job just running the bar and are short on time. You figure out that your various social media outlets allow intersection. Your patrons can check in to your location on Foursquare and simultaneously post their check-in to both Facebook and Twitter. So why can't you configure your Twitter account to simultaneously post to LinkedIn and Facebook? This will save you time and you'll be updating three social media sites at once.

I agree that sometimes it's fine to overlap social media platforms. When I check in to a location on Foursquare, I am simultaneously updating my Twitter account. However, I don't check in to every place I go and I always add context to my check-in. I don't think my Twitter followers are very interested that I stopped to fill up my car with gas today, so I didn't check in to the gas station.

The language between platforms is also different. Two days ago, I saw someone check in on Foursquare, which updated Twitter, which then updated Facebook. The post on Facebook looked something like this: "I just ousted @name as mayor of This Location on @foursquare! http://4sq.com/fjlsie6y" One of that person's Facebook friends commented on this post. That comment said, "Can you please speak in English?" This, in my opinion, is a cross-platform fail.

So when is it okay to intersect platforms? I figured it was best to ask that question in the social media spaces themselves. I asked my Twitter followers, Facebook friends and those following my LinkedIn account this question. Here is a sampling of answers:

Katie Felten, founder of MKE Live and, not coincidentally, the person who ran the Hashable event last night: "If I follow someone on Twitter and they DM (direct message) me back and ask me to 'like' them on Facebook, I unfollow them. I'm in *this* space right now. If I want to talk to you on Facebook, I'll find you there."

Tiffany Weber, owner of WYWOPets in Milwaukee and marketing specialist at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee's School of Continuing Education: "It depends on the audience and the meaning of the account. For business, I pick and choose. In personal use, I'm a little more lenient. LinkedIn is the biggest one for me on filtering. I've blocked several users who auto update with Twitter feeds and Foursquare."

Mitch Jurisch, senior network technician at Computer 911 Inc.: "If there is a certain reason to post cross-platform, I enable it. But each social media (platform) has its own purpose."

Phil Gerbyshak, a Milwaukee-area social media coach, speaker and author: "(Social media should) intersect selectively. Not everything fits everywhere. LinkedIn shares are to be helpful. Facebook, personal. Twitter, both."

Phil's comment is a good point. For example, Twitter allows you to post to both Facebook and LinkedIn selectively by adding #fb or #in to your tweets.

Julie Larsen, volunteer event coordinator for the Milwaukee Affiliate of the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network (who has a separate Twitter account for her volunteership): "Only my tweets from my @PanCanMilwaukee account update on LinkedIn." Julie has a personal Twitter account that doesn't auto update on any other platform. She does allow Foursquare to update her Facebook status.

Carol Voss, PR/marketing director at IndependenceFirst in Milwaukee: "You have to look at audience preferences and what you are using it for. For business, the Facebook account feeds into Twitter; not the reverse (too much frequency for Facebook audience). Linkedin has the Twitter feed there as FYI mainly."

Katie Felten: "I don't mind some cross-posting across platforms. I just want to see some context to it. If you check in to a restaurant on Foursquare and it pops up on Twitter, sure, I can probably figure out you're having dinner. But who are you with and what are you having? Was it a good experience? Those are the things I want to see."

Josh Stowe, web content specialist at the University of Notre Dame: "While it was more convenient (to post cross-platform), it felt less effective. I'd agree with the other points about audience and frequency and annoying people who are on other networks."

Frequency of posts is a big issue for many people. What some Twitter users don't realize is that they probably update their account more than someone who only uses Facebook or LinkedIn. Having Twitter automatically update other platforms can quickly become annoying. But there are some people who automatically update their accounts across platforms and have found success.

Brad Koenig, a Milwaukee-area real estate consultant: "I previously had all my Twitter updates going to Facebook and LinkedIn. I recently removed the Facebook updates because some people on Facebook may not understand hashtags. As for Twitter updates to Linkedin, I'm not sure if that is a good thing or not. I am not always on the site so it does keep my profile refreshed. However, sometimes the posts aren't always business-related."

Brad was kind enough to have this same conversation with me on both LinkedIn and Twitter and I believe his is a unique situation. It's important to note again that use of social media and the various platforms depend on your business and your use. For Brad, he can sum up his social media strategy like this:

Brad Koenig: "I am my own business - not some large corporation - so you always get me."

What do you think about intersecting social media platforms? Should it be automatic or selective or not done at all? I'd love to hear more thoughts on this subject!