Mike’s Points

Whenever I get asked about the “future of social media,” one answer I often give is about the real emergence of tools that let you update once, and then you can communicate through all of your networks. That would be a real time-saver so you don’t have to go to Facebook, to Myspace, to Twitter, to your blog, to your __________ and post or update your $0.02.

A one-stop, social media aggregator.

Those aggregation or integration tools are growing. Tweetdeck let’s you do the update Twitter, Facebook and Myspace, for example.

And, this week, LinkedIn and Twitter announced an integration so you can post status updates on both networks.

After mulling that over in my head for a day or two, I thought: One tweet doesn’t always fit all.

How you use one network doesn’t mean you use another network the same way. I view LinkedIn different from Twitter different from Myspace and even a bit different from Facebook, as well as other networks I belong to.

LinkedIn is definitely professional focused.

Twitter is mostly professional-focused but enough personal.

And, Facebook, that seems about split 50-50 of late.

So, just because the future is becoming the now, what you share on one network is not always something you want to share on another.

Fortunately, none of the tools I’ve seen are automatic. You do have control over — and are responsible for — what you say.

While the tools offer you control, just make sure you know how — and when — to use them.

-Mike

(The post headline is supposed to be said in the voice of a newspaper boy selling newspapers at a downtown corner. Sarcastically, of course.)

Last month, I tweeted:

Creating in social media is easy. It’s the maintaining that requires know-how, patience & time.

And, for the most part, that’s true. Social media technologies are cheap at worst; free at best. While there is value in the know-how in the creation of social media activities like a blog, a Twitter account, etc., the process often is not complicated.

So, during the past few days, I created a four-step process to create a Facebook Page. I have a few more thoughts on the social media creation v maintenance issue at my latest Toledo Social Media Examiner article.

If you want to see and download my “How to Create a Facebook Page for Your Business / Organization,” you can click on over to the Toledo Social Media Examiner article or see the file at my DocStoc account.

Of course, any feedback on the how-to will definitely be appreciated. Anything left out? How can it be better?
-Mike