Sorry Phil. I Was Wrong About Connecting Twitter and Facebook

A few weeks ago Phil Davis (aka Philo) asked me what I thought about connecting his Twitter account to his Facebook status. I told him he shouldn't do it and should handle each one separately because it would likely confuse people in Facebook to see conversations in Twitter. I also told him it was a lazy way to look like you're active in Facebook.

I didn't think much about it for a few days and then the conversation came back to mind. I realized I didn't have a great reason for responding to Phil like I had and should try connecting my own Twitter account to my Facebook profile and see what happens. What I discovered really surprised me.

The first thing I saw was that it actually facilitated a higher level of good conversations within Facebook. I wasn't terribly active in updating my Facebook status prior to connecting Twitter to it. Once I did I really started to have some meaningful conversations within Facebook because of my Tweets. I didn't expect that to happen.

The second thing I noticed was that I became a lot more selective about what I would Tweet. I was constantly mindful that I was simultaneously broadcasting to both Twitter and Facebook, so I found myself choosing not to Tweet at times because things wouldn't make sense in Facebook that might on Twitter. I also started responding to people a lot more in direct messages rather than a simple "@" response. It was like I had another level of accountability for my Tweets and that was a good thing. It made me question whether something was really worth saying or not, so it was good to give a extra moment to pause and ask myself if I was really going to add any value by saying whatever it was I was going to say.

Finally, it generated business. This was the biggest shocker for me. I forget sometimes that there are still a lot more people using Facebook than Twitter, so by feeding my Tweets to Facebook it gave my Facebook friends a broader sense of what I do which, in turn, has generated several conversations about how I might be able to help their businesses. Generating business leads by connecting Twitter to Facebook was the last thing that I expected to happen, yet it did.

So this is my public apology to Phil for the poor recommendation a month ago. I have since told him the error of my ways and he was greatly delighted. It was also a good reminder for me to make sure I test my assumptions because until I know for sure, they're just assumptions...and we all know what happens when you ASS-U-ME.

Connecting Twitter and Facebook
If you want to connect your Twitter status to Facebook there area couple of options for you:

1. The Twitter application on Facebook will automattically update all status with your Tweets.
2. The selective twitter status application on Facebook that lets you push only the Tweets you end with the #fb hashtag. I don't use this one, but it seems to be the best of both worlds.