Followers and Friends: How Social Media Interactions Differ
On Facebook, you link up with friends, while on Twitter its followers. On the surface, it might seem like these are just different names but there’s more to it than just that.
Facebook uses the word “friend” for a reason. The whole feel of Facebook is one of casual friendliness, and they’ve built their whole site with this in mind. Interactions with your friends on Facebook are casual and open, sharing pictures of family and your lives.
Businesses who use Facebook should be very careful to remember this. It can be tempting to use the Facebook connection to hit fans with tons of promotion. Ignore this impulse, and concentrate on creating friendly, interesting posts that will build goodwill.
Twitter has become a favorite haunt for celebrities, largely because there’s less back and forth interaction necessary. Twitter users connect by following other users to see what they post. If they see something interesting, they may respond or favorite the Tweet. Or they may just let the tweet roll down their feed. They can unfollow you at any time without you being notified.
And you have the same freedom. If someone follows you, you’re under no obligation to follow them back. You also don’t have to follow someone to see their tweets or interact with them. The whole style is based on an almost flippant regard for connections and immediate updates.
Think of LinkedIn as a business networking meeting, which is why they use the word “connections.” LinkedIn posts, profiles, and interactions should be all about business and professionalism. Sure, you can have a fun flair to them, but keep it on a composed professional level.
Even if a Pinterest relationship heads to a more meaningful relationship, its core will always be your Pinterest boards. As a result, conversations and interactions are much more subject-based. If your board has pictures of interior design, then discussions will generally be about design, even if they do stray off other places occasionally.
Google+
The feeling of Google+ lies between LinkedIn and Facebook. The circles allow you to keep all of your various acquaintances, friends, and contacts separate, so your posts can have separate feelings as well. For example, your work circle could get industry-related posts, while your college friend circle gets your reaction to the game. In general, however, Google+ tends to be a little more formal than Facebook.
Instagram’s interactions vary widely, mostly because the photos there vary widely. Since all there is on Instagram is photos, they set the tone. If a photo is more casual in style, comments and interactions will be more casual, while more carefully planned photos will get reactions that fit the composed style.