Notes on my social networking strategy

I use a handful of social networks for different purposes. In many cases, I know people on more than one network. I will accept a “friend” invitation on any network with very few exceptions. When I can spot a spammer, a get-rich-quick scheme, or inappropriate content like racism or sexism, I’ll decline and occasionally block (depending on the network).

LinkedIn is the serious social network (and some would debate that it isn’t a full blown social network) for business networking and career development. It is  the most difficult place to add new connections, and the least dynamic and engaging of any of the networks I use. I have made some useful connections there, and find it useful enough to maintain, but it’s not a destination for me.

Facebook is awesome for communicating with people I know from “the real world,” like current and former co-workers, and people who attended the same high school or university. Facebook also acts as an extended bio/profile to Twitter. I often add someone on Facebook that I met on Twitter so that I can learn a little more about them.

Twitter gives me the most utility. I call it the Automat of the Internet. I have also heard it called a “pointer site,” meaning that so much of its value comes from links to outside content. (It has to with a 140-character limit). I use it as a social network; chat; IM; an intelligent, moderated news feed; and a career and business development site.

If I have a “strategy,” it’s to connect with interesting people, sometimes of similar interests, but it’s also personally rewarding to get to know people I would never have the opportunity and privilege of meeting anywhere else. Twitter, with its simplicity and openness, is the best place for this. A perfect example is Bing Futch, a mountain dulcimer player and collector of folk instruments, who I met through Twitter. Here’s a bit from Bing’s bio:

“He began playing Appalachian mountain dulcimer at Knott’s Berry Farm theme park in 1985, working at a Ghost Town shop for Bud & Donna Ford. In 1986, Futch founded Christian techno-punk band Crazed Bunnyz, a trio that grew popular in the international underground college radio scene.”

How cool is that?

Like most people, my social networking habits are driven by my perceptions of the etiquette and purpose of a particular network; my objectives; and who I am talking to. I won’t go off on a rant here about “the correct way” to use a social network because these discussions are too limiting and too bombastic. The correct way, as long as you don’t seriously offend too many people and/or break the law or violate the network’s Terms of Service (TOS), is whatever way works for you. Anyone who tells you otherwise is a self-appointed (and probably incompetent) expert.

Beyond the big three, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, my social network use starts to fall off. I really like Goodreads for finding out what people are reading, and I had a lengthy romance with Blip.fm, but we’re not seeing each other right now. I’m also on Plaxo because friends invited me. I’m on about 20 microblogging/lifestreaming whatever you want to call them services like Iminta, Onaswarm, Plurk, Fire Eagle, Brightkite, etc., because I wrote a client brief on these services and joined every one I could find when I was doing the research.

I occasionally post links on Twitter asking people to add me on Facebook, LinkedIn or Goodreads. I’ve probably been unfollowed for doing this but that’s OK. I first got the idea from Rajan G. Ramchandani, who posted the update “May I invite you to befriend me?” with a link to his Facebook profile. I thought this was the classiest, kindest request, and while I could never match it, I can aspire to do so.

Which brings me to the social networking full court press (SNFCP), the title of this post. The SNFCP is a strategy wherein someone adds someone on one social network, and then several others, all in rapid succession. Since I invented the name, I can invent the rules. In order to be a certified SNFCP, it must involve at least two additional invites in a 24-hour period. I have been on the receiving end of this strategy and I don’t mind it at all. I have also used it with certain people I felt I might be getting to know well. For me, it usually starts with a connection on Twitter with invites to Facebook and LinkedIn. I have only had it backfire once, when someone added me on Twitter and I added them on Facebook, only to be rebuffed with a Twitter direct message: “I appreciate your invite but I keep my Twitter and my Facebook separate.” I can respect that.

Your strategy, if you have one, could be very different from mine. Mine is organic, meaning it just formed itself as I used social networks, rather than being something I planned. This is the first time I tried to define it and doing so isn’t easy (and maybe isn’t necessary.)

When you get a moment, links to all my social networks are on my blog sidebar. Click freely!

So what’s your strategy, or do you think it’s better not to have one?

Tags: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Goodreads, Blip.fm, Plaxo, microblogging, lifestreaming, Iminta, Onaswarm, Plurk, Fire Eagle, Brightkite