Social Media-ing

As part of the new self-employed 21st century me I have been getting up half an hour earlier (week days only) and 'doing' social media online. I still feel like a monkey with mittens on when it comes to navigating the clicks and whizzes and setting things up like 'pages', 'links' or 'groups' always takes much longer than I anticipate but I'm going to persevere.  Why? Because I'm learning stuff, and not just how to operate in this strange cyber world.  I'm also forming an informed opinion on the different 'platforms' and what's good for what.  Here's a little summary - see if you agree.


Facebook
I keep my personal page private and try to restrict my friends to actual friends.  That's a moving definition though because Facebook can be useful for linking with new friends - people you meet on holiday or on a course.  I use the 'close friends' sub group for most of my posting and I hide notifications from some (such as my hip younger cousins) if they are dominating my news feed.  I'm careful about what I post and I can see the hazards of other people posting photographs of you and the inevitable linking of all one's online presences.  Most of my FB friends treat it as I do, not a place for deep and meaningful exchanges but good for a quick update, a shared joke or a quick hello, thumbs-up.

Facebook- business page
I've set up a Studio Hobohm Facebook page.  I have no idea if you can see this if you are not a member of Facebook.  Investigating this is on my 'to do list'.  At the moment it is Studio Hobohm's only web presence so it's an alternative to a website, has a relaxed feel and is easy to add to and update.  I still feel I need a website as my broader market is probably not Facebook friendly enough but it's been a good way to think about a company profile, images and links.

Twitter
I tweet under my Cambridge Women in Construction guise: @cwic_tweet.  Tweeting is a funny old business and the one I am most skeptical about.  It's difficult to see how anyone has time to read what you are saying or follow up on the links that are posted.  There is a steady stream of information but as I have been tweeting at the same time each day (first thing in the morning) - I imagine I am only seen by a few people before I slip down the ranks.  I believe you can pre-write tweets and send them out at set times but I haven't (had time) to work out how to do this.  Twitter seems to be a true marketing tool - raising awareness, letting people know you exist and giving them a flavour of who you are and what you do through the content of your tweets.  I haven't got the hang of the hash-tag and I haven't joined any 'conversations'.  At the moment I feel like everyone on Twitter is posting for attention and I'm not sure anyone is looking for the info.  It's a battle of the followers and the followed.   I've linked the feed to the studio hobohm page and I will try again to get that working on this blog as I think that may have more interest.

LinkedIn
This is a much more grown-up version of all the others but as a consequence seems a lot less active and not much fun.   It's the working world and has already been useful for job references and old uni contacts.  It's a kind of online CV and has groups for discussions and messaging which I think could be useful for CWiC - another 'to do list' item. That would make checking it more meaningful because I must admit I don't do much more than log on at the moment.