Cross Microblogging Etiquette

Social networking has become a daily routine for millions of people around the world. Small businesses, independent contractors, writers, authors and childhood friends get together and send each other messages which some call microblogging, by using the system incorporated into the social network. Social networking has become so popular that people are connected to several networks, but staying in touch with all the people on each network can be difficult.

When Twitter came online microblogging exploded because a “what are you doing now” message could be sent to all the social networks at the same time. The term cross posting became popular and the ability to stay in touch with a large audience in a short period of time appealed to almost everyone involved in more than one social network. Cross microblogging can be an effective way to stay in contact with friends as well as customers, but there is a fine line of Internet etiquette that can be crossed without realizing it. Cross microblogging can easily turn into spamming if it is done indiscriminately. Most friends and business contacts have a presence on more than one social network, so if the same microblog message is sent without identifying the people who are more than one network, the message could be considered spam, which is not an acceptable Internet practice and it’s annoying.

When cross microblogging is used to sell a product or service it should be done using different ads, product pages, websites or ad copy. In order to avoid being put in the spam category unique messages should be part of the cross microblogging experience.

There are several tools that can be used to cross-platform microblog. Flotzam is a download app to see what's happening on Twitter, Facebook and Flickr. Twessenger is a Twitter add-in for windows Live Messenger 8.1, Twist4Live is a live script that adds Twitter to Windows Live Messenger and Twitter Sync Yahoo Messenger, which keeps Twitter in sync with Yahoo Messenger. Other tools include OutTwit, Posty, Digsby, IdentiTwitch, Nitwit, Mugshot and several others.

In order to be an effective cross microblogger, patience and time should be invested in the practice of promoting and communicating products as well as personality. Most people love to get messages, but getting the same message over and over again takes the personal touch out of the message and the product. Everyone wants to feel special, especially in the microblogging world.

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