DM Blog

I recently wrote a comment on Billy Bryan’s new blog titled Twitter and Facebook and I wanted to share comment that with my readers too to see what feedback I get.

First, Here’s his original article:

As you can see, I already have my twitter feed coming up the left side of the blog, and as soon as I find it here, there’ll be a Facebook link.

I prefer Twitter. I find it simpler, more concise and I like how the search function on the Tweetdeck software (currently set to Gilles Peterson, Treme, #flotilla, and TOpride) allows me to focus on certain info streams.

But, and it’s a big but, Twitter isn’t near as popular as Facebook with the general public, or at least the general public that I deal with.

And realistically, the size and quality of one’s network is everything in social media.

And now Here’s the comment I wrote:

Yes, the size of almost anyone’s Facebook network definitely far exceeds that of Twitter, but I would argue that the quality of one’s Twitter network will always exceed the quality of their Facebook network…

Once Facebook started adding apps and an API, all hope was lost. Mind you, Twitter has an extensive API as well, but the breadth and (more importantly,) purpose of that API is significantly different.

For me, there’s too much garbage on Facebook now and it requires too much weeding through to find anything relevant to me. Even if I have no Facebook apps on my profile, I’m still at the mercy of everyone else’s apps and garbage. Do I really care what score you achieved on Farm Story? No. It makes the quality of that network far inferior to one that is limited to 160 characters of status updates…

Now, I must admit, I do use Twitter quite a bit, and maybe I’m guilty of over-re-tweeting sometimes, or perhaps my tweets aren’t always relevant or meaningful to everyone that follows me, but I much prefer Twitter over Facebook. "Garbage" on Twitter seems much less invasive and easier to weed through than garbage on Facebook…

Now, having said all this, I’m reminded of a time when MySpace was the biggest thing in social media, and then Facebook came along promising a much better user-experience. I always resisted MySpace, but was an early adopter of Facebook. I remember there was a time when I was actively trying to get a lot of musicians onto Facebook… And now only a couple years later, MySpace is dead, musicians are finally starting to get on Facebook, and the next big thing, Twitter, is here. Something new will always come along… Speaking of which, have you heard of FourSquare? LOL

At the end of the day, social media will always be here, and will constantly be changing. Unfortunately, it seems to me that musicians, or the music industry in general, are always a little slow to evolve and embrace change, speaking in terms of technology or social media of course. Always reacting a step behind instead of leading the way a step ahead…

I seldom login to Facebook anymore – I was even toying with the idea of deleting my account on "Quit Facebook Day" (for unrelated reasons) but in the end, I decided that it doesn’t hurt to keep it open. While the quality of my Facebook network might have diminished past the point of irrelevance, it’s still not a network I can cut ties with… Ugh.

When musicians ask me about MySpace, Facebook, Twitter or any social media platform for that matter, I always have a lot to say. But first, let me take a step back and say this – when I used to have a web design and web hosting company, I would tell people that a website is a great marketing tool and should be a part of your marketing strategy. Yes, a part of your marketing strategy, not your complete marketing strategy. So, why do I bring that up? Because the same thing is true for social media. It should be a part of what you do, a part of how you communicate/interact/reach out/socialize with your customers/clients/fans/friends, but not the basis for all your social interactions. Think about that…

So, what do you think? Has Facebook now become irrelevant to you too?