“Dance Like Nobody’s Watching …” goes the saying, but is that true on social media? I was thinking about how I use LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram in very different ways depending on “who’s watching”.
I have found that LinkedIn gives me the most useful feedback on my thinking, and I have engaged in some amazing discussions over the years.
It really is a place for intelligent debate with some of the smartest minds in the world. As LinkedIn is a business network, I write as if my clients and colleagues are watching, taking a very formal line on my profile and posts.
The 1,300 character limit allows me to get my message across in a succinct way each day. Facebook I am far more relaxed on, as I don’t see this as a business network so I will be more open in my discussion.
Twitter is great for real-time observations and its limited (currently 140 characters, soon to be 280) means that brevity prevails.
Instagram is a network I joined a couple of years ago to understand what all the fuss was about.
As it is primarily a visual medium, and most of my pictures are viewed on a 4- inch screen, I am also more relaxed on this network. How do you use these different networks?
Do you change “voice” for each one, depending on who may be watching?
