Did you ever try to find an analogy you can use to explain to people what the concept of social network really is? I for one have tried plenty of times.
A lot of people are asking me to explain what Twitter is. The irony here is that Twitter can’t really be explained in under 140 characters. I’ve tried myself to explain it, and I guarantee you that it took me a good few sentences to make my point. You can try though, and I for one have used “it’s like a water cooler, group IM and market research, in a single wrapping.”
But how can you explain social networks to people in a way that will allow them to understand what each one could be used for. The lines between these sites are blurry lately, one example being how Facebook becomes more like Twitter everday.
A lot of people create profiles on every big social network out there, but I only use three sites: Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
Explaining Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter in less than 140 characters
Below you can see how I’ve described each social network so far, with some measure of success:
Twitter is a lot like a cocktail party, Facebook is pretty much like a conversation in a hallway and LinkedIn is like a business meeting.
The most professional network that I’m using is LinkedIn, where I have the possibility to connect with people from my own field of work. Twitter is a much more free environment, while on Facebook you can get both personal and professional with other people.
What I find interesting about them is that they are becoming more and more like each other. For example, LinkedIn has groups and applications, just like Facebook does. Facebook, has the “What’s on your mind?” question that is so much like Twitter. We’ll see in the future how much alike these social networks become.