Don’t get me wrong. I like Google+. I have no major problems, issues or grievances with it. As a woman nearly obsessed with trying to conquer know what I’m talking about when it comes to as many social mediums as possible (find me on Facebook, Tumblr, Pinterest, Twitter, Linked In and Google+), many can say I’ve stretched myself a bit thin in my usage of online tools. In my defense, social media is part of my job.
After recently sitting in on a PR News webinar about Google+, my colleagues and I started a discussion about why anyone or any business should use any one social medium over the other.
Allow me to digress for a moment and preach. There is no “one is better than the other.” If your client base, fans, critics, etc. – anyone you are trying to communicate with or deliver a message to is on a specific forum, then you should be on that same forum. I stress in my marketing with the Miss Connecticut Scholarship Corporation that not all of our friends, fans or sponsors are on Facebook and Twitter. Therefore, to be sure we reach all possible audience members we need to diversify our outreach, cross-pollinate material and not limit our communication to one single form.
Back to the webinar discussion. I stated my point in this discussion that I will stick to until the cows come home: I get that some Google+ features trump some Facebook features or its lack of (hello, hangouts, I’m looking at you), but the argument that Google+ circles will be the death of Facebook (ok, I’m dramatically over generalizing), I will not buy. Another side note: Facebook will slowly kill itself whether it be in 5 months or 15 years and it doesn’t need any help from Google+. I created circles, I assigned people to these circles and not a single one of my posts on Google+ has yet to be anything less than entirely public!
It all boils down to the “what you see, is what you get,” mantra. I’m 100% positive that my colleagues I’m friends with on Facebook don’t care at all about me being on the board of directors for the Miss Connecticut Scholarship Corporation and my posted photos and updates about the program. I am 100% sure that my friends from high school following me on Twitter don’t care about that Wall Street Journal article my client was in. So what? With discretion of course, I am very open, and who I am “in real life” and online is the same person. (For those of you who know me well, I watch my language a bit more online, ha!).
I am perfectly aware that not all people conduct themselves in the same manner, and Google+ circles work for them in dividing up who in their networks sees what they post. I’m in no way stating one way to conduct yourself is better…just sharing food for thought.
Until my next blog post, I’ll be seeing you everywhere else online.
Tags: blog, facebook, idenity, networking, social media, tumblr
We should do a hangout