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Harold Mansfield
06-02-2010, 07:40 PM
One of the things that I have been trying to narrow down is, whether or not to sync NY blogs with Twitter, or Facebook.

Syncing would mean that logged in users activities would be posted to their Twitter or Facebook accounts, And, their activity on those sites would be reflected on their NY Blogs profile and in the site wide activity stream

Facebook is obviously huge and just about everyone who would be my target audience is going to have a Facebook page. Most people have Facebook to Twitter set up so anything that they post on Facebook automatically goes to Twitter.

Twitter on the other hand has been joining up with every social and mobile app on the planet. Mobile is huge. Every popular and up and coming mobile app has the option to post to Twitter. Some are even based on posting to Twitter and geo social apps ( mobile apps that access GPS to show user location) are really big and they all post to Twitter.
Twitter is becoming the catch all center of every web activity.

I only want to connect and sync users to one or the other.

The left side of my brain says it's more important to be synced with what is used to connect people and mobile mobile devices and what is synced most with mobile apps like Foursquare, Yelp, Meetup, and so on... Which would be Twitter.

The right side of my brain say's Facebook has 350 million users and adding 77,000 everyday, but it is still a web application. People mostly access it on their computers.

Stats say that people access the internet on mobile devices more than ever and it is growing exponentially by the month.

Personal opinions of each platform aside,...If you could only choose one, which would you sync to? Facebook or Twitter?

vangogh
06-02-2010, 08:31 PM
Couldn't you offer the option for both? Is there a reason why you only want to offer one or the other. If you have to pick one I'd probably go Facebook since it has more users and you'd have more probability of making people happy.

Are you sure that people will primarily visit your site with a mobile device? I would think more people would still access it with a computer.

I'd offer both though even if people could only choose one or the other.

Harold Mansfield
06-02-2010, 09:14 PM
Couldn't you offer the option for both? Is there a reason why you only want to offer one or the other. If you have to pick one I'd probably go Facebook since it has more users and you'd have more probability of making people happy.

Are you sure that people will primarily visit your site with a mobile device? I would think more people would still access it with a computer.

I'd offer both though even if people could only choose one or the other.

Well, it's not so much about people accessing MY site via a mobile device, it's more about do they do more web activities via a mobile device.

The concept of syncing is that what ever they do throughout the day, also goes onto their profile on my site.

Syncing your web activities with your mobile device is the way things seem to be going.

So if they are using any of the ton of mobile apps like Foursquare, Yelp, Meetup, Tumblr, 12 sec, Posting photos to Flickr and so on..are they more apt to post that activity to Facebook, or Twitter?

I could offer both, but it is a resource hog. It's one thing to log in with either or..it only goes one way, but if you sync, it goes both ways.

Yes I could filter out a lot of noise so that every insignificant message is not being posted, but I think having both is redundant because people are already syncing all of their accounts.

Mind you, I am only talking about activity on the main site. This has nothing to do with individual blogs. You would still have to log in as an administrator to post to your blog....I can install an all in one like Gigya across the board for the blogs. But that is merely as a log in...the blogs won't be running Buddypress.

I feel that if I sync with Facebook, I am limiting things to when people are on their computer, but if I link with Twitter, their profiles can be connected at all times.
Which is going to be best for people to network with each other?

Keep in mind that WP has IPhone and Blackberry apps so feasibly, anyone with a Worpdress blog can check and respond to comments, upload photos, and blog posts from their mobile device.. that activity is not just on their blog, it's also posted in their profile for their friends and connections throughout the entire site, AND, what ever groups they belong to...if it's synced, bloggers have one stop access to keep in touch with readers, fans, followers, and users across the board.


My head is hurting just thinking about it.

vangogh
06-03-2010, 12:33 AM
I can understand your thinking. I don't know that you have to think mobile though. If it's simply about people being logged in to Facebook or Twitter when they come to your site, more people are likely to be logged into Facebook.

I have the WP app for my iPhone and it's really not something you're going to use from a phone all that much. It's nice to be able to, but realistically that's mostly happening from the computer. I guess it depends on the blog though. If your posts are a few simple image then you could take them with your phone and post them to your blog.

Keep in mind that Facebook also has an iPhone app and I assume one for Android phones as well. To me it's easier to use the app than it is the site so again I'm not sure you have to automatically think Twitter just because you're thinking mobile.

Harold Mansfield
06-03-2010, 08:31 AM
After careful consideration, I did what any self respecting hack would do..I flipped a coin and it came up Facebook.

I figure it's easier to add profile fields and RSS than worrying about keeping members activities updated..for now at least.

I am sure that I will get an epiphany as I go along, but for now, this really makes my head hurt and I have more pressing issues to worry about.

Besides that, they are both making too many changes at the moment to count on anything. Twitter is clamping down on automation, and who knows what facebook's next move is?

Andy ( from WP..I don't really know him like that, but everyone else acts like they do ) says that he has some new stuff coming soon that will help integrate all of this stuff, so we'll see.

bizjunkie
06-03-2010, 01:11 PM
I agree with Vangogh - why not ask your users what they want - either take a poll and select their top choice or offer them a selection that they can chose on their own - like if I post a blog - I want this one to repost here and here - but not there but I may want my next blog to post there and not here or here.

Harold Mansfield
06-03-2010, 02:45 PM
I agree with Vangogh - why not ask your users what they want - either take a poll and select their top choice or offer them a selection that they can chose on their own - like if I post a blog - I want this one to repost here and here - but not there but I may want my next blog to post there and not here or here.

The options for blog admins are completely separate from the community functions.

Blog admins can set their blog posts to go anywhere they want, Facebook,Twitter, Linked In..it doesn't matter. I either have the plug ins already installed, or they have to make the adjustment on the platform to import.

I was speaking of the community functions on the main site..comments, links, posts to the activity stream, group updates, forum posts, friend connections, etc.