| This post was kindly contributed by Jared Prins' Blog - SAS - go there to comment and to read the full post. |
At Edmonton SAS User Group (eSUG) meeting last October 27th, 2010, Matt Malczewski delivered his SAS and Social Media: What’s in it for me??? presentation. One question he posed to the group was how Facebook and LinkedIn could or should be used to connect with SAS users.
First, a healthy reminder – Facebook and LinkedIn are both gated communities. That is, one must first join the group to access the content and features. Some people avoid these sites like the plague. Therefore it will always be important to continue with the eSUG SAS page and other open content delivery mechanisms.
My opinion of Facebook is pretty low given all the security issues it has had in the past (and will no doubt continue to have in the future). Facebook was developed from the ground up with the intent to share information. It is difficult to reprogram software to counter that objective after the fact.
That aside, to me Facebook is about personal life whereas Linked in is about professional life. Having an eSUG Facebook page is like mixing business with pleasure. I don’t want my business life to seep into my personal life. On Facebook, personal pictures or stories should never be exposed to my business contacts. LinkedIn’s objective is to connect professionals in a professional capacity. That sounds like a winner to me.
But that doesn’t mean you drop Facebook altogether. No, it would be wise to have a presence on all the different social platforms (a blog, sasCommunity wiki, eSUG SAS page, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Ning…). The question becomes, which of these do you want to be regularly active? You don’t want to try to be active on all of them. The last thing any person needs is yet another platform to manage and contribute to. Also, trying to maintain a presence on too many platforms makes each platform less valuable because it drops your participation rate in each.
It’s best to pick a few platforms to be active on and the others to have a presence on. For an eSUG Facebook site, my recommendation is that it be nothing more than a portal to eSUG’s main social spaces where the real participation happens.
My distaste for Facebook could be biasing my argument. How do you think Facebook and LinkedIn should be used to connect with SAS users?
| This post was kindly contributed by Jared Prins' Blog - SAS - go there to comment and to read the full post. |