Twitter vs. Facebook

 I have decided to make a list of pros and cons for both Twitter and Facebook to help me pick the superior social media tread. I have to say, i am a little bias because before ALES 204, Twitter did not exist in my internet world.  

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100002982068314

Pros

-befriend long lost friends 

-live news feed 

-fun games

-liked button

-event calendar 

-birthday reminders (A MUST!)

-facebook chat 

-photo uploads and viewing other peoples photos
-career related profiles 

Cons

                                                      -consumes your life
                                                      -makes you addicted to checking it at least twice a day 

                                                      -keeps you up at night chatting 

                                                      -time consuming 

                                                      -makes you procrastinate 

Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/

Pros

-short status and not paragraphs to read

-numerous links to other websites 

-no limiting to posting 

-global audience 

-celebrities use it 

-get to follow people that you have never met in real life

-find tweets on every topic in the history of mankind
-better for mobile use that Facebook

                                                      Cons

                                                      -word limit (some of us have lots to say)
                                                      -only limited to reading status (profile picture does not cut it sometimes)
                                                      -reading pointless statuses

                                                      -too many notifications if you follow many people or if its just one enthusiastic twitterer

                                                      -causes people to tweet instead of reporting danger 

So what to choose: Facebook my long time friend or twitter my newly made friend? I choose... BOTH =D Because it never hurt any one to have more than one friend, or social media options in this case. I also get to have the best of both worlds and I'm not going to argue with that.  Check out Dana's blog where she talks about other social network websites. 

The Facebook Era: Used for business?

When I say Facebook, majority of the individuals know what I am referring to nowadays, but there are also the selected few that may not know what I'm talking about. To summarize, Facebook to me, is one of the largest communication networks out there today and the users range from children to grandparents. Personally, I have not used Facebook for professional business as of yet, but i have used in it my personal life to connect with friends, family, etc. Also, it has worked wonders in reminding me when people's birthdays are and upcoming events that i might want to attend, but the way that the social media is expanding, I think that in the near future i may be using it for that dream job or as simple as getting my resume out there with out leaving my house.

There are already sources that exist where it talks about a guide to using Facebook for professional business:

http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/facebook-101-business-guide/. 

This website suggests things such as "growing your network" or "check your photo for consistency," which i agree with because if you have met people in your field of work, it possible that they may know and connect to many more people that share the same interest as you. I think when dealing with business or work, it is always a great idea to grow your network because at the end of the day it all about who you know and connections that you make with people that might land you that dream job. Who doesn't want that? I know i do! 

There are other benefits that Facebook can play in the professional business world such organizing information and relaying information to employers or employees, but it can also be a way to let those thousands and thousands of colleagues, managers, supervisors, etc. know that you exist. Facebook can allow people you associate with to put names to faces and I also agree with this classmate's blog post http://kelvinwwong.blogspot.com/, where he states that it is useful for people to reference to you from your profile page. People may not want to ask you your name for the 100th time, so they can play it safe and just check out your profile page. Another benefit is that if i wanted to let my future colleagues know about interesting information or warn others to beware of my bad day, a post of Facebook will suffice.

So, cheers to Facebook for I will no longer be called "that employee," my name is LINDA check my profile!