Normal!

What’s the difference between Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn?

Even 3 years ago I had no idea – except that I knew LinkedIn was a work-based social place where I hung out a lot. But I still, this day, didn’t know the real difference between them. I found a blog written by a woman, Karisa Egan, in a design company. It was dated 19 May 2016 and was marketing, but it interested me what she said about the 3 social platforms I use.

About Facebook:

With about 1.65 billion [yes, a billion! – ed.] monthly active users, Facebook is one of the most popular platforms, not only for personal use but business as well. For businesses, Facebook is a place to share photos, updates, and general news with those who follow or “like” you. Fans of your business come to your Facebook page to find out what’s going on with your company, see pictures of what’s going on, or explore events.

I sort of knew this, but didn’t really look on it as a business platform, unless, of course, businesses were small, home-based, markets, cafes, clothing, travel… okay okay, I’m getting what “business” on FB is. But my FB was just for me to contact my own friends. In the last year that had been cut down to I think around 49 now. Yes, I had cut out many people I hadn’t seen for the last 3 years, and many of them didn’t mean anything to me any more.

So what about Twitter?

Twitter is fast-paced, concise, and easy way to connect with your audience. With over 310 million registered users (and growing), Twitter is a sea of information of 140 character or less content waiting to be read, clicked, followed, and re-tweeted.

I used to use that a lot, 3 years ago, and I have only really gotten back into it in the last 6 months, as I started feeling close to “normal”. As at today I have 767 followers, which I think is pretty good! Some things take me closer to Twitter, especially the program Q&A on ABC on a Monday night. It’s funny, after posting to Twitter after (or even during) Q&A I had started to realise that just about everyone in my followers thought similarly to what I did… especially politically.

And LinkedIn? Karisa had written:

LinkedIn is different from the rest of the social media outlets because it’s specifically designed for business and professionals. Users mainly go to LinkedIn to showcase their job experience and professional thoughts, making it one of the more important platforms to use for those in B2B. LinkedIn is a valuable tool for not only driving traffic, but prospecting, establishing thought leadership, as well as recruiting.

That last bit above was italicised by me. No numbers of who is involved within LinkedIn, and I haven’t found those numbers on other sites which compared the three I have been looking at, but Forbes lists LinkedIn as #1867 of 2000 on their list, and #148 of USA’s best employers! It certainly sounds like a valuable tool.

I’d had a 3 year break from that, and I feel I’m getting back into it with my head down and my feet twitching! I (now) have 254 connections on Linked, mostly from Australia. I had a coffee meet-up with a friend from LinkedIn last week, and I now feel like I’m getting back into work socialising. I’ve connected with a few more in the last couple of weeks, and I’ve started reading what they do and how they work. I’ve contacted more people either through LinkedIn posts or on my mobile. It won’t just happen, but the way it is helping me makes me feel good.

I don’t expect that I’ll stay happy every day – something I don’t count on can drag me down immediately, but I’m now recovering a lot faster from anything like that. I have normal stuff to do: walk Jordie, do my (latest) study, write my blogs. And keep looking for work. So far I feel … normal.

Normal.