Stop Cross-Posting Social Updates

by | Jan 4, 2012 | 37 Comments

Excuse me, Egon, you said crossing the streams was bad.

Look, I get it.  You need to manage your social networks through one interface…Hootsuite, Shoutlet, or insert your social management tool here…but please, please don’t cross-post between social accounts.

For example, posting your Facebook update, verbatim, to Twitter.

Like our friends from Norwegian…

 

 

Now, I don’t know a lot about the Norwegian Cruise Line social media team, their (assumed) social agency or overall strategy.  This could have been an error, mistake or the result of a very long-lasting New Year’s hangover.

They appear to do a pretty good job on Facebook.  Heck, they are actually talking with people.

Shocking, I know.

And, aside from the fact that the Twitter profile directs you to their Facebook profile, plus a few other unfortunate, cross-posted tweets, they seem to understand Twitter.

So, we can call this tweet an anomaly.

A slip of the tongue…or tweet.

But it is a fantastic learning example for all of my tourism and destination marketing friends.

If you have no other New Year’s resolution for your social strategy, make it this.

Turn off all of your brand’s social, cross-posting connections.

Twitter to Facebook.

Facebook to Twitter.

Foursquare to Facebook.

Please, enough.  If I wanted to follow your updates on Facebook, I would be on Facebook.

But I am not.  I am on Twitter.

And you should be too, Norwegian.

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Comments + Conversation

  • http://twitter.com/timbrechlin Tim Brechlin

    First off, +1 for the Ghostbusters shout-out. Since, you know, I can recite the film verbatim.

    I hate cross-posting of social updates for the same reason I hate Instagram: It’s the easy way out. (Get off my lawn!) One of my favorite companies in the email sector cross-posts from Twitter to Facebook, and it drives me nuts. Twitter and Facebook are two vastly different channels. Facebook allows for much more strategic planning, while Twitter’s very nature is one of stream-of-consciousness — it’s instant, right here and right now. They’re both powerful tools, but they have to be used in the correct ways. When a company cross-posts, that, to me, screams one of two things: Either they’re lazy, or they think they don’t have the resources for social.

    If you can be awesome on Facebook, more power to you. If you can be awesome on Twitter, more power to you. If you can be awesome on both, congratulations, you rule.

    But if you truly don’t have the time to properly utilize a social medium, then sit down before you fall down.

    • http://www.travel2dot0.com/ Troy Thompson

      Thanks Tim.

      You know, with all of our pop-culture references over the past 4+ years, we have never posted one about Ghostbusters.  It feels good.

      Interested to hear more about Instagram, since I am currently working on another Forecast 2012 post that includes the service.

      As for the social cross-posting, you are exactly right.  If you are only going to focus on Facebook, then just focus on Facebook.  Don’t send your Facebook-specific posts to Twitter via the quick / easy / lazy cross-post.

      I have said it to thousands of people by this point…it is okay to *not* be on Twitter / Facebook.

      - Troy

      • http://twitter.com/timbrechlin Tim Brechlin

        Eh, my dislike of Instagram just stems from being a photographer for more than a decade, so it’s mostly just hubris: I *know* how to get great depth of field in a photo or how to under-expose for great effect, so on and so forth. Instagram just lets anyone apply a filter to a camera phone photo and say, “Behold! I have made AN ART!” Like I said, a lot of hubris and also some “get off my lawn” pride there.

        As a mobile photo sharing service, it’s great, though I’m still in a wait-and-see mode on the applications for DMOs — if you’re on Facebook or Flickr, you don’t really need to fragment your social audience that much more. But I’d be much more interested in Instagram as a platform if it weren’t infested by horribly filtered photos. Not everything — in fact, very little — needs to look like a faded 1960s Polaroid. 

        When I interviewed for my current position in September 2010 and was asked for my opinions on social media, I said that for a company to not have a social presence in 2011 would be akin to not having a website in 2005. I still firmly believe that — but the culture change hasn’t happened yet. Far too many companies, not just DMOs, see social as a throwaway, hence the proliferation of cross-posting between networks. If you don’t truly believe in social, groovy. But don’t jump into it just because the world tells you that you have to. Get your feet wet on Twitter. Learn the social networks and figure it out. Being incompetent on social is far worse than having no social presence at all.

        • http://www.travel2dot0.com/ Troy Thompson

          Thanks Tim.  As a Holga aficionado, I can see that perspective on Instagram.

          On the other hand I am hearing, and seeing, a lot of interest from our DMO peers around Instagram.  I am not sure where it goes and grows from here, but that is what I am trying to figure out.

          Love the ‘social as a throwaway’ thought.  So true.

          - Troy

  • http://twitter.com/thompsonpaul Paul Thompson

    And of course the even funnier (read annoying) version of FB-> Twitter crossposting is when the only useful part of the update, the link, gets cut off due to Twitter’s smaller character allowance. Duh.

    And the one you missed – for all that is holy, do NOT automatically post your tweetstream to LinkedIn!!! LI actually has a nice little hack. Once properly set up, adding the hashtag #in to a tweet will post only that one to your profile update for the few times it’s appropriate.

    Funny, almost nobody posts their tweetstream automatically to Facebook, but they happily do the reverse. Wonder why?

    Still, it all comes to taking just a few seconds to think about what your users actually want and benefit from. Not rocket surgery, as usability expert Steve Krug likes to say.

    • http://twitter.com/timbrechlin Tim Brechlin

      When I lived in Iowa, I was actually in a band called the Rocket Surgeons.

      Cross-posting between networks displays a fundamental lack of awareness of how different networks operate, and how users on Twitter are going to work differently from users on LinkedIn, et cetera. Plain and simple.

      • http://www.travel2dot0.com/ Troy Thompson

        Rocket Surgeons, nice.

      • http://twitter.com/thompsonpaul Paul Thompson

        What a great name for a band – brilliant! And fully agree that there are fundamental differences in the networks , their purposes and posting needs.

    • http://www.travel2dot0.com/ Troy Thompson

      Good point Paul.

      I will admit it.  I use to auto-post my Twitter feed to LinkedIn.  Then, I thought, ‘why?’  If my content is not important enough for me to take the time and post in on LinkedIn, why would anyone take the time to read it?So, I stopped.  But I do use the #in hashtag occasionally, a great shortcut.

      Good question about Facebook to Twitter, but little to no Twitter to Facebook.  Not sure about that…

      - Troy

  • Roland

    I love the photo that accompanied this post.  DON’T CROSS THE STREAMS!  Hope you had a great holiday, Troy! 

    • http://www.travel2dot0.com/ Troy Thompson

      Thanks Roland.  Sometimes our pop-culture references require a certain perspective, others (like this one), are a bit more obvious.

      And others are just because we like seeing Bruce Willis on the blog ( http://ow.ly/8ibP7 ).

      - Troy

    • http://www.travel2dot0.com/ Troy Thompson

      Thanks Roland.  Sometimes our pop-culture references require a certain perspective, others (like this one), are a bit more obvious.

      And others are just because we like seeing Bruce Willis on the blog ( http://ow.ly/8ibP7 ).

      - Troy

  • Amir Eylon

    Amen

    • http://www.travel2dot0.com/ Troy Thompson

      Thanks Amir, appreciated.

  • Anonymous

    Troy, this is becoming a big pet peeve of mine as I see too many brands completely ignoring Twitter and just posting their Facebook updates to Twitter. Oh, so annoying. What’s the point? Good one. 

    • http://www.travel2dot0.com/ Troy Thompson

      Exactly Milena, what is the point?

      - Troy

  • Vicki Brown

    > If I wanted to follow your updates on Facebook, I would be on Facebook. But I am not.  I am on Twitter.

    I’m not a “brand”. I’m a person. So perhaps your article above is not meant to apply to me.
    But I crosspost from Twitter to Facebook _because I don;t want to be on Facebook_. 

    I am on Twitter. My sister is on Facebook. I have a few other friends on FB. My only reason to be on FB is to see what they say but I am _not_ going to post to a site I barely use. I post to Twitter. Twitter shares with my sister.  Nuff said. 

    (I really wish people would stop arguing about cross posting. Read were you like and not where you don’t.)

    • http://www.travel2dot0.com/ Troy Thompson

      Hey Vicki, thanks for the comment.

      Well, I don’t really consider this an argument.  I am right.

      Seriously, comment snark aside, you are correct, for our purposes we are speaking specifically about brands.

      Individuals are a different matter…although, I am still not very fond of the personal cross-post.  But, in your case, you have a specific group on Facebook that you are updating with your tweets.

      Rather than asking your entire Twitter following to ‘like’ your latest comment.

      Certainly a different situation and one that seems to be working fine (for you) with the cross-post.

      And feel free to tweet me as well…I am on Twitter.

      - Troy

  • http://twitter.com/peterfabricius Peter Fabricius

    Well said, Troy. 

    I agree with your point below. For brands, there really isn’t an argument here. Yes of course there could be cases where a question or statement can be equally beneficial to all audiences, but cross-posting by default is setting us back to the age where social marketing had no strategy or structure.Don’t be surprised if you receive +K for 80′s movie trivia later.

    • http://www.travel2dot0.com/ Troy Thompson

      Yes! Two of my passions, 80′s movies and Klout! Ha!

      Good stuff Peter, thanks for the comment.  Agree, when I see posts like the one above, that is exactly what I think…no strategy.

      And yet people still wonder why Twitter is not working for their brand…odd.

      - Troy

  • Suzer_domenica

    Amen to that!

  • http://twitter.com/decillis Betsy A. Decillis

    I was singing “Hallelujah” about this except for a few details. I think cross-posting with Foursquare is a-okay IF you give the check-in some context. This is where a lot of brands (and individuals) are tripping up on Foursquare. Telling me that you’re at a location is boring. Why are you there? Why did you want me to know about this? Do you have a picture that tells the story too? If you make the cross post cool, I’ll probably click through and want to find out more. The key is to make me want to be there or else the post is useless.

    The real problem is that the reason that the cross-posting is going on is because brands don’t want to be on certain networks. Well, then why do you have the account? Because everyone else is doing it? That’s not a reason. Either be there, be present and engage or else get off the network. And let’s be honest, every FB post to Twitter is a wasted tweet due to the culture of Twitter. I personally will look through a feed before I choose to follow and if I see one tweet from FB, I won’t follow. 

    And something I’m wondering is when the normal user sees “Posted from…” on Facebook, does that devalue the post to them as much as it does for me? To me, that’s a signal that they’re not really there even if they are. Or maybe I’m just getting distracted by the shiny little picture that goes along with the post. I know Hootsuite’s little picture is terribly distracting. 

    • http://www.travel2dot0.com/ Troy Thompson

      Thanks Betsy, love the comment.

      I will agree with the Foursquare comment.  I follow a few people that are pros at the Foursquare / Gowalla (RIP) cross-post.

      And how can you tell who is a pro?

      When you can’t tell the tweets from the Foursquare check-ins.

      However, I have never seen a brand pull that off.   Maybe someday…

      - Troy

  • http://www.travel2dot0.com/ Troy Thompson

    Amen indeed.

    - Troy

  • http://twitter.com/DeepDishCreates Lara Dickson

    Thanks for putting this annoyance out there. People use different social networks for different reasons – not to hear/see a dupe message from a company (or even an individual) if they happen to be connected an various platforms. Loses credit/sincerity with me. Screams “We are advertising to you now.” I think you can share the same message on different platforms, but take the time to change up the copy to suit the recipient. A few seconds to customize can save one from looking like a robot.

    • http://www.travel2dot0.com/ Troy Thompson

      Exactly right Lara.

      Social quickly turns from conversation to advertising with this type of cross-posted message.  And you are right, taking a few seconds to modify the message is all that is needed.

      Ah social, so simple yet so complex.

      - Troy

  • http://buhlerworks.com/wordpress JEBworks

    Well, is it maybe because many marketing folks are still of the opinion that social media is just another advertising / PR channel?

    • http://www.travel2dot0.com/ Troy Thompson

      Yes Joe, yes.  Spot on, as usual.

      - Troy

    • http://twitter.com/timbrechlin Tim Brechlin

      That’s exactly what it is, ESPECIALLY in the DMO space. And then those same marketing folks go crying that social isn’t working for them, and not recognizing that the failure to launch is precisely because they’re using it as another advertising / PR channel, instead of a beast unto itself. They’re trying to force social into being something it isn’t. 

      • http://buhlerworks.com/wordpress JEBworks

        One reason is that often they just hand this task to their old school PR people or other agency who themselves don’t understand social. Reminds me of the early web days, mid to late ’90s when suddenly every ad agency added morphed into an “interactive agency” by adding some young kid to do web design. The result for DMOs who dealt with them: more brochures online!

        • http://twitter.com/timbrechlin Tim Brechlin

          Bingo. To quote a comment I made a few weeks ago here: ”
          I get *why* DMOs are still in this mindset. I really and truly do. We’re still in the very nascent, incipient stages of social media as a marketing platform (ESPECIALLY for destinations), and traditionally DMOs are staffed by people with experience in the traditional channels — sales, print / CPG marketing, etc. We haven’t hit the point yet where senior staffers have been working in the digital realm for the bulk of their careers, and as a result, the inclination is to force traditional marketing practices upon social media campaigns — even though to do so is roughly akin to trying to fix your leaky kitchen faucet with a bazooka.”

          There is certainly a PR function of social: But that function is NOT to use it as just another channel for every single press release or media mention of your destination. It’s to share compelling news about the destination. Unfortunately, I don’t see a whole lot of discernment among DMOs using social for PR … I see far more spitballing, just throwing spaghetti at the wall and seeing what sticks.

          • http://buhlerworks.com/wordpress JEBworks

            Through my involvement with Level 9 a web developer working in the credit union world, I come across the same mindset of “we are oh’ so special and different from the rest of the corporate world” as DMOs so often claim.

            If it’s generational, I don’t give them a pass because that’s just a fig leaf for not being willing or able to be a visionary and think outside the proverbial box. As an early boomer I can make that accusation without fear, as I’ve been making it for two or more decades by now!

          • http://twitter.com/timbrechlin Tim Brechlin

            You and I need to have some fun email conversations soon. The “special flower” argument from DMOs needs to die.

          • http://buhlerworks.com/wordpress JEBworks

            Looking forward to. The weed killer is at the ready :)

          • http://www.travel2dot0.com/ Troy Thompson

            Thanks for the comments Tim and Joe.  Love the ongoing conversation…makes me feel good.

            - Troy

  • Nicholas @ FastBlink

    You summed it up perfectly!

    • http://www.travel2dot0.com/ Troy Thompson

      Thanks Nicholas, appreciate the comment.

      - Troy