The other day, while having a conversation with some friends and fellow designers, I was asked how I decide whether a particular piece of information is better for a tweet (aka twitter post), my blog, or my Facebook profile. Since I know many folks here might also be confused about that, I wanted to share my personal philosophy.
- quick thoughts, often unrelated to work directly.
- quick questions that I need an immediate answer to; since I have so many fellow designers and entrepreneurs following me, it’s an easy way to get quick feedback on something I’m stumped on.
- quick shout-outs of Happy Work Stuff™, such as launching a new project or landing a speaking engagement, contract, etc.
- quick links to interesting articles I think people should read, but I don’t have any specific commentary to add to.
I find that this balance of personal and professional, self-promotion but also promoting others, works really well for twitter. It does a good job of promoting my work without feeling spammish. Plus, it’s really easy to keep tabs on; I generally only spend about 15-20 minutes a day at most on twitter.
- new projects, with imagery and a quick story about the project;
- news items, press clips, etc.
- links to blog posts or articles that I think people should read, and I actually have original commentary to share. This is the difference between blogging an article and tweeting it; blogging an article is meant to add something thoughtful to the conversation, not to just say “hey, read this!”
- occasionally, I’ll post stuff about working in the office, design, etc.
As for Facebook, I simply import my blog via the Notes feature, and I have the Twitter application importing my tweets as status messages, so it’s generally self-maintaining. That said, sometimes if I see something cute and not work-related, such as a funny picture from I Can Has Cheezburger, I’ll share it on Facebook, since I have a much more casual relationship with most of the people on there. I do, however, have a Fan Page for my business, which I upload new work to. It’s a way to have a quick overview of my studio’s work available for people who might not otherwise discover my business.