the tindog coffeehouse

Since joining Twitter last November, I’ve gradually blogged less and less, not because I wasn’t interested in blogging, but because there are times it’s just quicker and easier to fire off a quick tweet and be done with it.  But then a lot of times I feel guilty, as if I have some sort of obligation to meet a blogging quota.  (I don’t, do I?)

Then, of course, there’s the Facebook versus Twitter dilemma.  When I want to announce something amazingly profound to the citizens of the Interwebs, like how I could really go for a ham sandwich right about now, do I post that nugget of eternal wisdom on Facebook or tweet it?

Of course some people do both.  There’s the Twitter Facebook app that ports your tweets automatically to Facebook (in the form of your Facebook status).  And the next version of TweetDeck will allow users to post their updates to Twitter, Facebook, or both.  I don’t really like this approach, personally, simply because not everything I say on Twitter is necessarily appropriate for Facebook, and vice versa.  Plus, at times it borders on spamming your friends, and Facebook users are already being spammed enough as it is.

So to help navigate these perilous waters of social networking, I’ve devised a simple “Blog-Facebook-Twitter” decision matrix in the same vein as Rock-Paper-Scissors.

• Does what you want to say require more than 140 characters or involve block quotes of any kind?  If so, then Blog beats Twitter.
• Do you have the overwhelming desire to use the “@” symbol when referring to someone or tag everything with a “#” hashtag?  If so, then Twitter beats Facebook.
• Do you want to make sure that everyone you have ever met in your entire life sees your announcement and that it will be commented on by the kid that beat you up in First Grade that you are now inexplicably Facebook friends with?  If so, then Facebook beats Blog.

I hope that helps.  And be sure to follow me on Twitter.  You know, just in case I get any more cravings for lunchmeat.