It's interesting how different kinds of people gravitate towards certain social networks. For example, I've got a niche website about comedy and satire. It's not just a collection of funny stuff. It's got tips, pointers and news items of interest to people who write and perform comedy. As I add more content to it I've been looking for places to share this to a relevant audience. I've found that by far the best site for finding comedians in particular is Twitter. 

Twitter

It's the perfect medium for them after all -- aside from a stage, that is. It's really focused and quick. And 140 characters is an ideal length for one liners and quirky observations.

They can also use it to announce upcoming gigs, etc. But this seems to be less common than tweeting gags and engaging with other comics and fans.

They use it to promote videos of their standup acts and they are big users of Vine, an intriguing spin-off from Twitter for sharing short video grabs. 

People with the same interests or professions will of course tend to follow each other on Twitter (that's what it's there for, after all). But it seems that this tendency is extreme when it comes to comedians. Scroll down a comic's following list and every second profile will have a photo of a guy in a spotlight holding a microphone! So Twitter is obviously going to be a real asset as I develop my website about this subject. 

Facebook

After getting started there I then had a look at Facebook. It was not nearly as useful. Yes, there are heaps of comedians on this site. But they are harder to find. While lots of them have pages that you can discover by searching for words like "comedy" and "comedian", they often just build pages under their own names.

Not surprisingly, comics use Facebook to construct real fan pages in the truest sense of the word. Their posts seem to consist almost solely of news about their upcoming shows, as well as posts about how much fun they had at the last one. They seem not to do nearly as much interaction with their peers as they do on Twitter. And they don't discuss the craft of comedy so much. 

Now these tendencies are different to people with a real interest in say, social media itself. They tend to use Twitter and Facebook -- as well as other similar sites -- in pretty much the same way. They're forever sharing information, tips and relevant news and blog articles.

This is interesting. Not only do people in different niches gravitate towards different social networks. They also use each of them differently. This is definitely something to remember when working out which social networks to focus on.

There's a strongly held belief that older people struggle with technology. There is certainly some truth to this stereotype. It's just a fact of life that as you advance in age it becomes harder to cope with change.

Without a doubt the pace of change has been dizzyingly fast in the last decade or so -- particularly when it comes to technology. I think this is one of the main reasons many seniors are reticent about getting into social media. They think it's only something geeks -- and young ones at that -- can master and enjoy.

There's also the pace of the medium. You do slow down the older you get. Being almost fifty years old myself I know this from personal experience.

But these are minor disadvantages. I think that mature folk should just ignore them. There are so many reasons to get involved in social networking. You can expand your social circle, learn heaps, have a lot of fun -- even make some money.

Older and wiser

And being older puts you in a really good position. That's because when you've been around a while, you have wisdom and maturity. You've learned what people are like. And you've accumulated this knowledge through years of observing your own behavior as well as that of others.

If you're older you're going to think before posting things that are defamatory, or embarrassing to yourself. And as we know from the numerous tales of epic social media fails that crowd the media, young people make these kinds of errors all the time.

A gentler pace

And being older, you're usually happy to take things slowly. You're not likely to jeopardize the relationships you are building (be they social or otherwise) by asking too much, too soon.

I find that this is one of the big pitfalls in connecting with others online. So often, people alienate others by moving too fast. On Twitter, for example, time and again I've followed people and had a bit of interaction. Almost immediately this has occurred they start offering services I didn't ask for. This annoys me because I'm not on the site primarily to buy stuff. I, like many others, want to connect with like-minded people, socialize and learn. 

Of course not all these eager beavers are whippersnappers, but a lot of them are. Older people tend not to be so full on. If you're mellow like that and just keep chipping away in a friendly and helpful manner, you'll keep those relationships going. So, if you do have something to sell, odds are you'll make more sales in the long run because people will end up trusting and respecting you.

Calmer in the storm

Another way that maturity is beneficial: You tend to know when to turn the other cheek. This is useful on all social networking platforms, but is particularly valuable during political discussions on Twitter.

Needless to say, this particular realm of the site can be an absolute bloodbath! People are not only fired up emotionally about various issues; they are emboldened by the anonymity the medium affords. They can become extremely nasty very quickly. And if you're not careful you can easily end up in vicious and ongoing flame wars that can become very ugly -- sometimes spilling out into the offline world, and even resulting in legal stoushes.

Again, such conflicts are not the sole preserve of the young and impetuous. But members of this demographic do seem to dominate in this regard. That's simply because mature aged people tend to have greater command of their emotions. They can keep calm in a storm of derision and either ignore those provoking them, or manage to respond calmly, thereby disarming their online adversaries. 

Everyone is familiar with the line "do unto others as you would have them do unto you". That's good advice for anyone, religious or not. It's also worth remembering when you're using social media.

You can learn a lot about how to get the most out of this medium by monitoring your own reactions -- both positive and negative -- to actions by your followers.

Observe what you like

Recently, for example, I noticed that I'm constantly on the lookout for people who tweet quotes, one liners, and tips. They are often witty, get right to the point, and you don't have to click on a link to see what they're about.

Maybe this is just a bit of a phase I'm going through. But the fact that I am seeking such tweets out means that others must be too. That's why I've resolved to produce more of them myself.

Speaking of tweets without links: I also like it when such tweets are really clear and concise. It's always obvious when someone has taken a bit of time to compose a tweet. Whether it's funny or not, a well crafted, punchy tweet really stands out. Whenever I see them I retweet them. So that's another aspect I'll focus on in future.

Note what you dislike

And here's a negative reaction that I think is worth noticing: I don't like it when someone I've just begun following on Twitter immediately starts requesting or suggesting that I do something such as enter a contest. Fact is I follow people because I hope to learn from and engage with them. It doesn't necessarily mean I'm a paid up, card carrying fan of their business.

So that's something I'll remember to avoid myself. Much better to just share good stuff regularly, have some conversations first. Then when I've got that rapport, I can send some sort of specific request.

I have a similar bugbear on Google Plus. I'm quite happy to get posts shared directly (as opposed to public stream entries) from people I've already made a connection with. But I don't like it when others in my network do this too soon and too often.

For this reason I've yet to use this feature of Google Plus. I just post to my stream. If those in my circles want to have a look, fine. But I'm not doing something that some of them might find a bit invasive.

Birds of a feather

Of course every social media user is different. So my likes and dislikes will only concur with a certain proportion of users. However those people are exactly the kind of people I should seek out. Birds of a feather flock together, as they say. And they're much more likely to support and help each other, too.

This is a pretty obvious point but it's something that people either don't know to start with, or keep forgetting: Success in social media is the result of persistent participation.

Activity is rewarded

Sites like Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus and Linkedin are designed to reward the people who really use them a lot. Say you have a Facebook page for your business. Once you've built it you've got to repeatedly update it, like other pages, comment on them, reply to comments on your own, etc. This will gradually bring in more likes and comments, and on and on it goes.

Of course you can implement some expert tips and tricks to make the process run quicker. But as long as you participate often it will start to work for you.

Results take time

Also, social media users should just keep at it without being too concerned about getting immediate results. They should have faith that it will work in the long run. Just as with search engines, social media sites will take their own good time to bestow benefits on users.

I urge anyone in business to remind themselves of this fact. It will counter a common misconception about social media. Many tend to believe that you just have to create a Facebook page and that's it -- people will just start flooding to it in their thousands. (I know this to be the case because I have spoken to several people who had this attitude!)

You don't get something for nothing

We can blame spammy marketers for this "set and forget"' mentality. All those ads about push button technology and making money on autopilot have made people think that they don't have to do anything after they've created an account!

Of course it's human nature to want something for nothing. So often those who you'd expect to know better buy the lie. Inevitably they're disappointed when nothing happens. They walk away bitter, feeling had.

If only they knew that they just had to work at it! And they don't have to spend all day, every day participating. If they just got into the habit of logging in regularly, sharing their own and others' content, engaging with others, they'd slowly but surely start to reap the rewards.

If you're a blogger who wants to be read by as many people as possible writing your posts is just the start. You also have to share them on social media. And it's not as simple as just dropping links on these sites. You need to create and nurture relationships with other bloggers in your various networks as well. Otherwise you won't get the full benefit.

Businesses are time poor

While these activities are enjoyable, they all take time. Considering how busy most of us are already this is clearly an issue for many people -- particularly those in business. I can certainly see why many of them outsource all their social media work, and why this is a great opportunity for freelancers.

Efficiency inevitably improves

That said, the more you do something the more efficient you become at it. So you can cram lots of social media interaction into a few minutes that might have taken you half an hour when you were starting out. And if you blog consistently then you can really crank out the posts.

Early phases most time consuming

Also, you tend to have to take most time in the early phases of social media use. That's because you're learning how the sites work as well as creating your profiles, etc. With a Facebook page, for example, you have to build it, then get a decent number of likes and some interaction happening. That will take a while to do, but after it's done you don't need to spend so many hours maintaining it. It's like a garden that you only have to water occasionally.

This is particularly true of Twitter. It took me a long while to get a couple of thousand followers to one of my profiles. But now, when I tweet something on that account I tend to get retweets and mentions, which helps draw in still more followers. When I use it to tweet blog posts I get at least five or six clicks on them, often more. Now that doesn't seem like much, but over a year that's thousands of extra views on my blog.

Think long term

So, it's best to look at this whole thing as a long term strategy. You certainly have to invest a lot of time in social media, particularly in the early stages. And you do have to maintain your involvement. But once you've established your presence and built solid followings, the benefits keep on coming with less effort required.

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