Since today I am putting more of a marketing push behind Working Class Economist’s feature, and it has been scientifically proven my facebook friends can only handle one serious item a day—if that—before going to something lighter or logging off completely, I am going to evaluate the different social networking sites for you and anything you might want to promote.
Depending on what you want to promote is probably going to make a big difference in which one will work best:
1. Twitter—the Scrappy Upstart trying to take on facebook. I didn’t even have a Twitter account until about a week before Alabama Liberal launched, but I’m now glad I do as it pretty much offers more freedom and is less restrictive than facebook in almost every way.
Best thing to promote: Yourself. Twitter’s policy towards self-promotion (classified as Spam under facebook) is pretty much wide open. I once called Twitter “The Pyramid Scheme of Promotion” as you might add a thousand people in hopes of getting 100 to follow you back in hopes of getting 10 to actually come to the site. However, it appears to be working…in minor ways for myself, but huge for others. Twitter is the one site where a guy no more famous than a janitor can have 300,000 followers. A young guy tweeting funny shit his old father says can actually have a million more followers than Cameron Diaz, which is great. Because Twitter really de-emphasizes pictures over what people are actually saying, content is king and a 65 year old man can realistically have more followers than a “hot” young woman. It’s true social network democracy.
Downside: At first the 140 character limit drove me nuts. Facebook only offers you 420 and I hit the maximum capacity every time I posted a status, so adjusting to a third of that really limited me.
2. Facebook—the Gold Standard, not the first social networking site and probably not the best when push really comes to shove, but it is top dog…for about another ten minutes.
Best thing to promote: Modeling. By letting you upload a thousand pictures of yourself doing anything but showing nipple (I’ve seen “modeling shots” of a girl eating a roast beef sandwich on the toilet), facebook is still the top place to see sort core porn shots of girls you barely know…I mean…”inspirational portraits of American fitness.” So whether you’re a curvaceous Buffy type too big to do runway modeling or a Stepford robot fitness instructor whose worldview pretty much begins and ends with having sexy abs, facebook is most likely your best shot.
Runner-Up: Surprisingly, political causes. Facebook would let a ten year old start a fan page for her “singing” but in its “Everybody is somebody” message of letting non-famous people start fan pages to get famous (and I don’t mean to sound sarcastic, I do think it’s a great thing) it also lets people start political cause pages for issues that might never see the light of media otherwise. That doesn’t mean people will show up to your cause, but you can start it and say pretty much whatever you want. [A Fuck the Troops Facebook group started a firestorm of controversy last year]
Downside: Facebook is almost Orwellian in its pursuit of spamming comments. You can start a facebook group saying something outrageous like “All Muslims are Terrorists” or “Fuck the Troops” (and even though I don’t support either of those groups or sentiments, I am okay with the free speech right to say them) or even start a fake profile as someone else. But if you send out a link to an article YOU wrote to people YOU know more than a dozen times, facebook will go on the offensive. Since Alabama Liberal’s start only six weeks ago I have been blocked from adding friend requests, from sending messages, and other petty stuff even though no one I’ve sent links to has removed me, blocked me, complained about me, etc. Facebook just generally treats its users like children, which might be more appropriate for…
3. MySpace—the Wild West of social networking sites. All of the moderate people have deserted it and it’s now pretty much outlaw reign where the few users left can do whatever they want. The last time I went—about a year ago—I’m pretty sure it gave my monitor an STD. I also had friend requests from people I went to school with that dropped out in the 10th grade, and are helpful indicators of when something is ending. Like they’ll get a facebook profile in two years when everyone has abandoned it for Twitter.
Best thing to promote: Music. Your band probably already has a MySpace page.
Runner-Up: Spam. Most of the users still on there are “hot women” trying to sell you Hoodia or penis enlargement pills.
Second Runner-Up: Sex offenders looking for underage girls.
Downside: See Second Runner-Up
4. Linked In—the professional site, aka the boring older sibling. Linked in is a site for professional people looking to make connections in a way that could be useful for their careers. I have known a ton of people to get jobs from people they know through this site, to make networking connections that last a lifetime, and just generally benefit by being members instead of the endless time drain the other sites provide. Since it is the most directly useful site…it is also the least popular.
Best thing to promote: Is the only thing to promote: yourself in a career you might actually enjoy.
Downside: The people who need it the most are probably the last to use it.