As far as the Facebook linky thing goes, sometimes you don't get a preview and if you delete the wwwblahblahblah, you don't get a link, either. It happens randomly to me. Sometimes I get a preview, sometimes I don't.

I saw a blog post a month ago or so that Twitter changed their programming so the "." or other punctuation at the beginning of the tweet doesn't work to open it to everyone. Have you heard anything about that?

Great advice! Thanks!

I love the photo, please tell us more about it.

I don't even know how to link my Facebook and Twitter. For once it turns out I'm not a luddite -- I'm actually doing the right thing! Yay for technological illiteracy!

Yay! Nice to know I'm actually doing a few things right! Must be from reading your blog. :) Thanks Nathan for all the great advice you give.

Jami-

I don't think that was true, but if it was they fixed it quickly.

I've Tweeted about 8 times. Seriously. Eight times. NO ONE is going to panic about my Twitter feed. But Facebook is a whole other kind of potential screw-up-fest. If you can't take the heat, don't hang it out for the entire English speaking world to see. You can't fix stupid, and it'll be viral before you can delete it.

Thanks for this article. Great advice! I just un-linked my facebook and twitter accounts. I should have done that a long time ago but had not gotten around to it. Oh, and I will stop putting the links in my facebook status updates. I good on all your other points!

I've always used Twitter, Facebook, and blog this way:

If it's something I can say in CORRECT ENGLISH, with PUNCTUATION, in 140 characters, it goes on Twitter. Otherwise, it goes on Facebook. If it's longer than about 300 or 400 characters, it goes on a blog.

Great post! I've decided this summer to get more involved in my twitter. I got 8 followers in one day just by being more active on it!
I agree that Twitter posts are much different than Facebook. Thanks for the advice!

Number 1 reminds me of that commercial. Now, I'm ashamed, but also somewhat delighted, to admit I did not know about number 3.

You're like a guru (the wise mystic, not the MC from Gang Starr, RIP).

You always say it better than anyone else, Nathan! Thanks for this reminder.

Gael - because I was curious too and see no one answered you, here's the information about the train wreck pictured above: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gare_Montparnasse

I ditched my Twitter/Facebook linkage after reading this. Just makes sense. I used to think it would just save me time, but have started to realize it likely annoys my friends and followers more than anything. Thanks!

Phew! I'm still (so far) social media-ly adept. Thanks for the info!

I agree with Anon, that's the Montparnasse train wreck. It's also used in the HUGO film, adapting it to the story. Usually you show info on your pix, Nathan.

Great points about social media.

Agreed on all counts! The other problem with linking accounts is that followers of both will see things twice. It's annoying, and feels lazy. But I especially like that you point out that a good FB update is different from a good Tweet. That is so true!

Also, I recently started following someone on Twitter because I liked his new book. But the book was controversial and a few people had given it a bad review. He engaged in Twitter fights with several of them, which meant that every five minutes he was making a new post AND that they were all angry.

More than one or two posts a day is probably unnecessary, and anger gets old fast.

Yeah, Montparnasse train wreck, sorry.

Great article. Thanks for your insights. Do you know anything about SEO meta tags for websites? Would love to read your easy-to-understand advice on that topic.

I do keep my Facebook and Twitter accounts linked, but I delete about 75% of my tweets immediately from Facebook. They definitely have different uses but I find there is some overlap.

I can't even get my cats off the table. Dogs are beyond me.

I love this list! Spot on with all of them. And as to the Twitter/Facebook one, I really think the feature should have an option button. Instead of automatically posting every tweet you should be able to check a box that says, "Share on Facebook," so you don't flood your Facebook with random @ mentions and hashtags but can still occasionally post relevant things easily. Great post, Nathan.

How about, "Don't be a jerk but if you're a jerk, fix it"? I was the biggest jerk, deleted my Blogspot Blog, went to WP.or, decided to create my own site, but (thankfully, phew) returned to Blogger.

So Bransford, as long as I remedied it in enough time, it should be okay, yes?

And thanks for numbered five.

Sheila Cull
twincull.blogspot!

This is an awesome list!! So true.

I think you got the the wrong. It says "blunders you shouldn't do" then the bullet points are negative too. Like you shouldn't NOT be a jerk, meanings you should be one?

Got the title* wrong

I do have my FB page posts going to Twitter, but not Twitter to FB. I don't think that's bothering my Twitter followers because no one reads every tweet that passes through the feed.

I do agree it's overkill to send Tweets to FB, though.

Great list of blunders, great advice. Definitely agree about not linking twitter & FB -- I tried that, thinking it was a great time saver as I didn't have to repeat posting for my different groups... But I spent all the time deleting tweets that were great on twitter but were too much on facebook. Thanks for the post.

For the Facebook / Twitter linking, that's why I use Tweetdeck. If I'm posting something I want to say in both places at once (rare), it's very easy to do, but if I want to look at both feeds at the same time and post to one independently, it's extremely easy to control which site you're posting to. You can even use it for Facebook Pages now, too, which is way handy.

Great list, and I would never want to make a puppy cry :)

Good list, I would never want to make a puppy cry!

Cool post, Nathan. Great suggestions. And thank you for helping the puppies.

Like Sheila, I've done some stuff on the net I regretted, for sure. There's been a high learning curve on the internet for me.

But I think it's tricky, because you don't want to be afraid to say ANYTHING controversial, or to speak your truth. Writers need to be both courageous and truthful - or they rish watering their message down. I think you're a pretty good model, Nathan, because I've seen you take quite a stand, but you always do it in a diplomatic way.

I do see some folks who manage to rant and/or snark and gather a following - Joe Konrath comes to mind - and I'm not afraid to mention him, because he fully admits to ranting. On the other hand, the real meat of his message is very positive, so that may also be a real factor. So, there are some people who can pull ranting and snarkiness off, but I think it's pretty rare.

OMG, I think I've made a puppy cry. Maybe several.

I agree with everything on this list, especially #2 about not being a jerk and not going off on rants and bitter complaints. There are a couple people that I started following; I read some of their posts beforehand and thought they sounded interesting. But then they started ranting about stuff, which just made me uncomfortable; having to read their rants takes a lot of the fun out of social networking.

Thanks for #3! I was wondering about that... however, the preview doesn't show an option to include a PHOTO with your link. And yet, I see other people with links and photos. How can I do that?

Thanks, Nathan! I'd had it in the back of my mind for a while that linking FB and Twitter didn't make sense, but your succinct summary has finally made me get round to unlinking them! It is definitely worth taking that extra few minutes to shape a separate message especially for each medium's clearly-defined format and audience.

Thank you! #3 I didn't know I could delete the long link. Thank you,thank you!

The Twitter/Facebook thing is absolutely my #1 pet peeve and soooo many authors do it. Argh. I blogged about that myself a few weeks ago.

Good tips here! I didn't know about the Google+ link thing. Thanks!

I actually didn't know that about the @Replies (in your May 2011 post) so thanks for clarifying that! Thanks too for these tips--hadn't seen the Kanye rant and I'm not going to lie, I enjoyed it--and I especially appreciated "don't be a jerk." It does seem like people get a lot of attention for those sorts of posts/tweets/social media exposures. But it's definitely not good.

All helpful. Many thanks! Are you still in NYC?

Thank you so much for the tip about links in Facebook and Google +! I disagree with the problem of linking Twitter and Facebook, however. Most people I communicate with don't have Twitter accounts, so I have a lot of interaction on Facebook using my linked Twitter posts. Even people who follow me on both sites seem to prefer commenting and liking on Facebook to @ replies.

Late on this, but thank you for the tips. I do have my Twitter and Facebook accounts linked, but I'm not sure how to undo that. I'll have to look into it.

Catching up with posts after sending my new ms. off to my publisher. Thanks for this very useful post. I had no idea the links could be deleted n FB and Google+ updates and the info would stay attached. And I have a dear friend who needs to know about not linking accounts. It's especially bad when you link LinkedIn as well. Funny little tweets look really dumb on your professional LinkedIn profile.