That is the order of my priorities in 2013.
Of the three largest social networking sites in the United States, I plan to use Facebook the most, LinkedIn the second-most, and Twitter the least.
Facebook in 2013
1. You want to be my friend if we know each other beyond our names, we’ve met or talked on the phone many times, and we want to see and interact with everything in each other’s timelines.
I want to learn my friends’ latest news and chit chat.
2. You want to follow me if we don’t know each other that well. Follow me if you want to see my public timeline updates (as not every update is shared to the public) and you desire to comment and share those updates so I can get to know you better.
If you enable me to follow you, even better.
I want my followers to read milestone announcements and other big news that I think the world should know.
3. You want to follow my thoughts as a city councilor by joining my civic group.
I rarely talk about government stuff on my wall.
4. You want to follow my thoughts on digital strategy, blogging, and internet best practices.
I rarely share this stuff on my wall; but when I do, this is when being a follower makes the most sense.
LinkedIn in 2013
I will continue to seek out new connections who are strategically aligned with my interests and passions in social media marketing, open government, and social change. I will continue to interact with like-minded individuals on groups and in the Q&A section.
As I seek out more teaching and digital marketing management opportunities, LinkedIn is where I will share my thought leadership and build relationships with colleagues and peers.
Twitter in 2013
Curated lists were used a lot in 2012 and will be leveraged much more frequently to categorize people and observe trends.
Everyone I was following through last night were added to private lists and unfollowed. While hundreds are in my public and private lists, I am currently following nobody.
I followed nobody when one year turned into another. I then created two lists comprised of people I previously followed: people I’ve met in the flesh and people I want to meet. I then followed @BreakingNews and am developing a to-be-defined strategy on who to follow next and why.
Related, I intend to publish an e-book on my Twitter evolution in the coming months…
Other Applications in 2013
I continue to use Foursquare, Instagram, Pinterest, Flickr, Yelp, and other platforms.
My frequency and utility on each will be determined in the new year.
Concluding Thoughts
Because Facebook is the world’s largest network, it is productively beneficial to spend most of my time there. Between my profile and pages and groups, I’ll be using features on a more regular basis that I began using for the first time in 2012.
There is no denial that LinkedIn is the business person’s paradise; and I will continue to promote my personal/professional brand as well as expand relationships with existing connections and friends.
As for Twitter, I’ll use it far less than the other two and far less than I’d been tweeting to date. But how or what will change specifically, time will tell.
My blogging will definitely increase — and with a slant around my new Facebook page on digital strategy.
Thanks for reading and I hope you stick around.
About Ari Herzog
All the best for 2013, Ari.
I am sure you are doing something right and will make a success of your further adventures into Facebook et al.
Belated thanks, David. Great year to you too.
I’m not a fan of the idea of unfollowing everyone on Twitter and putting them on private lists. Private lists are fine, but why not follow them too? Seems a little anti-social for a social network.
…for the simple reason, Collin, that I want to start 2013 with new ears. That, and it was too time-consuming to determine who to unfollow and who to keep following.
But what about your Klout score? #WinkWink
Anyway, it’s an interesting approach. Reminds me of when Chris Brogan did the same thing, and he’s still only followed back about 300 people.
Klout, shmout. I once had a job interview about a year or two ago when the person said she was impressed by my K score. I responded that she knew more than I know.
Back in 2009, when I had about 7000 followers and was following 7000, I paid some company $25 to unfollow everyone. I later deleted my account and started fresh. Now that, dear Collin, was a great experiment!
i’m just started to use linkedin..it no so popular in my country compare to twitter and facebook
I had started to use myspace just now i hope it would increase my klout score too..anywayz great post appreciate it..;)
I’m going with Twitter first, Facebook second, and LinkedIn third. I’ll be adding in some Instagram and Pinterest to do some testing on how those platforms can perform for clients, but the big three are still my main focus.
And I hope to see the death of silly social rankings like Klout and Kred in 2013. Unfortunately, there are still too many people focused on the numbers…even if they aren’t the right numbers.
Cheers!
–Sean
Sorry, Klout isn’t going anywhere. It’s part of Salesforce, right?
Salesforce leverages Klout, but I don’t think SF bought Klout. I know it’s a bit of a pipe dream to see it go away, but my fallback hope is that they shift their focus from measuring activity instead of “influence”. Too many people think that their Klout score defines how well they are “doing” social media.
Cheers!
–Sean
No love for G+, Ari? Personally, I think 2013 will be a great year for Google Plus and LinkedIn, given how both these networks seem to have done well to strengthen their foothold in the market this year.
Happy New Year Ari, and everyone reading this!
To a degree I’m playing with Google Plus — but only to a degree. Personally I don’t perceive it for the masses so never talk about it in my classes, for instance.
I’m right there with you, but I think I will use Twitter a bit more than LinkedIn. It fits my personal needs a bit more, but both are great tools!
I have been considering getting into doing Twitter lately. I believe that Twitter is most important to enhance the value of a blog and can help improve the development of the blog into a more positive direction. I agree with Ari Herzog and welcome him for valuable post. So this topic will clear many points why a new blog hit by Twitter. Actually it is more productive and gives you a better result that the reader there will be surely go and visit your blog.
I’m curious if you think there is ANY value to LinkedIn endorsements. I have been “out of the social media loop” for months (years?) now it seems, but lately, I’ve started to see more people “endorsing” me on LinkedIn for some of the rather silly skills I checked off a long time ago–like “WordPress.” I almost think these endorsements are “brand-diluting” in the way that listing skills on a resume like “Microsoft Office” would be. I guess it pops your name up in the LinkedIn news feed but again, “Dave Atkins has been endorsed for WordPress!” is not the message that is going to have recruiters calling me up with six figure jobs or invitations to come speak
I don’t think there is any value to LinkedIn endorsements — because they can easily be gamed. If I want to be endorsed as a “Blah” then I put that into the list of subjects to be endorsed and people will click, or I message them to click it.
LinkedIn testimonials (or recommendations) are better — enabling the other person to write why you are a god. Moreover, many LinkedIn posted jobs require so many testimonials; I’ve yet to see an emphasis on endorsements.
That’s sad. I get a lot more out of Twitter than Facebook. Your choice of course. Still… sad.
Also very amusing that there’s a box at the end of the article that gives your bio and a cute little space that lets me Tweet out a comment about the article.
Glad you like the Twitter box.
Hope it works out. I’m trying to bran dmyself usign social media, and I’m basically just researching, and taking notes till 2013. Hopefully I could create some sort of plan so I could start the process.
This is the most idiotic, self-centered, asinine, egocentric, egomaniacal, narcissitic post I have ever read about using social networks. If everyone followed your advice there would be no one online. You, sir, represent everything wrong about social media gurus and snake oil salesmen in the industry today. May God have mercy on your soul.
Gee, that’s pretty narcissistic.
You do realize the entire post was about you, right? How exactly is that teaching anyone but Luddites who voted for you how to interact with you?
You do realize this is my blog, right? Why shouldn’t I write about myself now and then?
You are writing presuming that your audience wants to know the nuances of what you do in social media and why… you do not provide explanations on why it helps them, what the benefits are, etc. Seriously, I am new to social media but if I follow your advice I unfollow everyone on Twitter?
I write with no presumption about who wants to read what. As I have for years, I write on my blog before I do things off my blog. It’s my way of pointing people to a central location when there are observable questions.
I also write best practices, case studies, how to’s, etc.; but this is not one of those. Please scroll to the top of the page and visit the archive for that. The above is also not my advice; it is merely my direction for 2013.
I have to agree with Frank here. I think “idiotic’ is strong, as you obviously thought this out, and I also understand you are a professor (congratulations!). However, I think toying with your followers’ feelings in this way is unbecoming of a social media guru. I implore you to reconsider.
For what it is worth, “flesh” lists sounds creepy.
I never called myself a social media guru. I am the first person to not call myself such. (In fact, in 2009 I tongue-in-cheek wrote why I’d rather be a social media dumbass than an expert.)
And, how am I toying with anyone’s feelings?
I am dying over this exchange. But what about our feelings!!! Hahahahahaha! Wow, I have never enjoyed comments so much. Ari, it’s your blog, and I can choose to read it or not. But I do agree that “flesh” lists are a bit creepy.
The flesh lists are old. They’re now called “met” and “not met.” You missed the name change?
I am new to this Twitter thing, but I would be troubled to be unfollowed by smart people such as you.
How do you know you are the first person not to call yourself a social media guru? It would seem that there are several who might make that claim (My favorite president, William Henry Harrison, for instance).
But, phooey, I say. Labels are for, as you so crudely put it, “dumb-asses” (I believe that should be hyphen-ated).
Nevertheless, I wish you luck in conquering new social worlds, Professor. and don’t let nay-sayers like Frank Gerbowski get under your shiny skin.
Frau Blücher. See what I did there, Ward?
I also agree with other commenters that it’s ironic Ari would suggest tweets to the post when he’s not willing to follow the poster on Twitter. You are messing with karma, Sir.
Why do you equate following with the word “follow” and not the action of being on a list? I follow thousands by list. I see hundreds of them every day. But I follow none of them by literally following.
Why “hide” when people look at your profile and see only 20 followers? Why go outside the lines to use Twitter outside of the functionality they provide, then proclaim to everyone you are using it this way? No one cares.
I am convinced your approach is to help make it appear like you are the shepherd and your followers (the ones who actually follow you) are your sheep. You are following 20 people. Your “Lists” approach means you are lurking without acknowledging – people have no idea you are following them. Write your own rules for using the social networks, sure. If a brand did that, no one would pay attention to them.
I have followed 7,000 people in the past.
What benefit does that provide, Frank? For every person I’m following to know I’m also following 6,999 other people and will never see their tweets?
I’d rather follow less than more. I started this new year following zero and I am slowly building that up; followed two more people within the past 10 minutes.
Clouds parted, angels sang! You followed 2 more people!
I am not arguing for you to follow 7000 people. I’m arguing that you should follow people in the first place and not lurk through lists, because otherwise it looks like you are serving your own ego.
10 PRINT “I AM A NARCISSIST, AND SO AM “;
20 GOTO 10
> RUN
We can agree to disagree. You want me to follow people and not use lists. But you don’t want me to follow 7000. You can’t have it both ways.
Have a pleasant weekend and see you around the north shore sometime.
I’m confused by the vitriol being served up here Ari. I’ve been an avid reader and follower, but the attack here on the regular people seems antiquated and off mark. It’s as if you are ok with this voyeuristic lifestyle and are actually proposing that someone like Frank, who we all know well from his writings, should be ashamed of himself for actually being social and engaging with humans.
I’m sad by this exclusivity clause and I’m reconsidering my offer from previous posts.
Who am I attacking, Jermaine?
This entire blog post is about my priorities in 2013.
My priorities, not yours. Mine. Who is anyone to say I am wrong?
Please repeat after me out loud: I am sofa king we Todd did.
I am not saying don’t use lists. I am saying that not following people portrays you as thinking your own rules about using social media are more important than actual functionality of how the tools work. You can use both following and lists.
So far you’ve managed to misinterpret every comment of mine and twist my words. No surprise based on your priorities. Sofa king. We Todd did.
Perhaps you can give me some tips on compiling an “A-List” to follow. You are right, following the hoi polloi is a pointless exercise in lowering standards to en-gage, as you gurus say, with the unwashed masses.
I also think publicly announcing your intentions to blow up your syco-phantic following is an ace move. Though if you change your mind, please also announce that you will stop announcing these things, so we shall know what to do.
Keep fiddling!
I’m going with Twitter first, Facebook second, and LinkedIn third. I’ll be adding in some Instagram and Pinterest to do some testing on how those platforms can perform for clients, but the big three are still my main focus.