The other day my customer Sally wanted to start tweeting. She asked what is the difference between tweeting away and posting on Facebook. It’s a lot different I started to say. It is so different especially for businesses.
Table of Contents
Why Posting On X Is Different Than Posting On Facebook
If you post too much on Facebook people will either make you an acquaintance vs. a close friend so your posts will not show up in the feed as often; or worse, they could unfriend you.
And if you post too much on your Facebook business page they will unlike your Facebook page. I don’t think you would want that I told Sally.
Adjusting For The Algorithm Changes Tweeting
Now posting and tweeting away gets even more complicated today with both Facebook and Twitter X tweaking their algorithms more frequently.
If you don’t post on your Facebook feed or your business page several times a week your postings could be seen by fewer friends and followers.
Why is that? Facebook has changed its algorithm. They want to see engagement, relevancy, and timeliness. Facebook doesn’t want to rate those users that don’t post to their Facebook walls or pages to show up more than their engaged users.
With engagement being a key element on Facebook not only must you post but you must like, comment or engage with others on their feeds too to rank higher.
You cannot just be a lurker on Facebook if you want to get results from a Facebook page or a post in your personal feed. It just does not work now on Facebook. They will even let you know now.
Twitter X too has now gotten into the act with its own Twitter X algorithm tweakings. You can now choose which tweets you want to see first.
Twitter X sort of picks them for you but you can check off that feature in your Twitter X settings.
How Often Should You Post On Facebook?
That’s the 10 million dollar question Sally and others have often asked. One has to be careful not to post too much or not at all or very little. It’s like a secret sauce recipe. Some people today still claim to know the optimal times to post.
Posting and tweeting away really is an individualized thing. It depends on where you live, how many friends and followers you may have, what you post, the images you use, etc. It is very hard to say what works for one person will work for another.
Hence, you must check your Facebook Insights for info on your Facebook business pages. If it’s your personal page it may be how many are liking your posts or commenting.
Likewise, Twitter X offers great analytics as well if you have a subscription. Otherwise you may need a tool like Fedica to guide you.
Pinning Your Best Facebook Page Posts
Did you know you can pin your best Facebook page posts? It’s easy to do and you can change them at any time.
One smart move social media managers can make to increase the visibility of their best posts is pinning them to the top of their page. Pinned page posts occupy the most prime real estate on social media and tend to get more engagement from social media users with their presence at the top.
When choosing a post to pin, social media managers should pick one that is recent, relevant, and engaging for social media users who will be viewing it.
Furthermore, it’s important to continuously update your pinned post as time passes since social media users will eventually grow bored of it after seeing it frequently.
Therefore, social media managers should attempt to change up the pinned post once in awhile while also reaping the benefits of having one of their posts remain visible at the peak view of their page.
Some People Were Addicted To Posting On Facebook
According to The Wall St. Journal recently: “Excessive ads, bots and misinformation have sucked the fun out of sharing publicly, users say.” Lots of users still log in but they don’t post like they used to on social media.
Back in 2016: A study found “Effectively presenting oneself to others, which includes the sharing of self-related information, is a crucially important social skill, playing a role in occupational success, romantic attraction, making friends, and other desirable aspects of life.”
Addicted to posting on Facebook? Blame your brain https://t.co/YotBGpIg5D pic.twitter.com/9hj8NC1Chi
— Telegraph Technology (@TelegraphTech) March 10, 2016
How Often Should One Be Tweeting Away?
Now on Twitter X, it’s a bit different. But I must clarify that. If you have only a few followers it is similar. Therefore, tweeting too much could become a turn-off and you could get muted or unfollowed.
But when you have a lot of followers – like over a few thousand you be tweeting much more than you can post on Facebook. Likewise, people expect you to be active on X.
There are many tools you can use to check your Twitter X stats to see how you are doing with your tweeting away.
Today posting linkless posts on X gives you more engagement and views.
So it appears all the rumors of Google penalties with AI were unfounded. ✔️
— Lisa Sicard 👩💻 (@Lisapatb) February 11, 2023
"Google prioritizes high-quality content, regardless of whether humans OR machines generate it."
Unless you try to manipulate the system, that's with or without #AI tools.
Is this because of Bard?
The above tweet got 344 views where as my other Twitter X posts with links average between 30-50 views. That’s about 7x higher!
Pinning Your Best Post On Twitter X
Just like pinning your Facebook posts, you can pin your best post to your Twitter profile.
As you can see from the above image, it received a lot of impressions as well but it’s been there since January 5, 2023. (this was first written in February of 2023.) You can change it at any time to put a different tweet in your profile from your tweeting away.
I may switch this pinned tweet to the previous text-only tweet to see how far it will reach there in a week or two. Text only posts on X without links work better today than posts with links.
That hold’s true for most social media networks today in 2024.
Some bloggers or businesses may switch the pinned tweet for each new blog post or an e-commerce store to a special price or new product announcement. A realtor may pin a tweet for a new listing or an open house.
Tweeting On Twitter X From Facebook – A Big No
This is my biggest pet peeve is when folks post every Facebook post to a tweet post or every tweet to a Facebook post. Now an occasional one is okay. It could be something special, unique, important, etc.
But each and every post to a tweet? Likewise, If you forgot how this habit started, go to your Twitter profile on a desktop (it doesn’t work on mobile) and then to apps.
There, you can revoke your Facebook app to stop sending out those updates on your Facebook feed.
Your Turn: Tweeting Away On X
How do you use Twitter X and Facebook differently? Or do you just post from one and let the other duplicate? I’d love to know how you are tweeting away vs. posting to Facebook so please drop a comment below.
She has 30+ years of experience in marketing/advertising with 12 years of experience in content marketing, social media, blogging, and SEO.
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Hey Lisa,
I know its few people are used to either facebook or twitter . your post will really help them .
Thanks for sharing such great information !! It really help me a lot ,
Regards,
Ava
Hi Ava, Welcome to Inspire to Thrive. Which of these points helped you the most? You are right, once people get used to one platform they don’t use another as often. Thanks for coming by and have a great day!
Facebook has had its chance to impress me with my business page; same with LinkedIn. I’ve backed off drastically on both; I gave it a good for all of 2015 and they just didn’t want to have it.
Twitter… man, I love Twitter! It’s the only place where I really get to engage, and it’s so humbling when you see people adding you to one of their lists based on the types of things you post. Twitter wins every time!
Hi Praneet, I agree with you about Twitter. Facebook isn’t dead yet but for business pages you have to invest some dollars to extend your reach with your audience. Sad reality of being online. Everyone has to make money including Facebook. Thanks for coming by and have a wonderful day.
Hi Lisa
It’s good to be here again.
As someone who is not very great with social profiles, I particularly appreciate your insights…for instance, from your entry here, I have unlinked my FB account from my personal Twitter account…now, what is for FB remains on FB and what is for Twitter goes on to be live there.
Keep writing great and awesome content – they are sincerely loved!
Do make the day great.
Always,
Akaahan Terungwa
Hi Akaahan, yes, nice to have you back here I’m glad to hear you unhooked yours so they won’t overlap like that. Are you using something like the Buffer to schedule posts to save you time?
Thanks for the inspiration to continue here and gave a great weekend.
Thanks for the reply, Lisa.
I recently got introduced to Social Pilot and have found it to be an amazing time saver…now, I can post and tweet even while sleeping!
Do make the day great!
Always,
Akaahan Terungwa
You are welcome Akaahan, I checked it out, it looks like the Buffer to me. I love using the Buffer, it sure does save time. Have you used that one as well?
Hi Lisa,
Comparing Tweeting away to posting on Facebook is quite interesting. For many social media marketers, understanding the difference between the two doesn’t even cross their mind.
However, its good to know a bit more about how tweeting and posting on Facebook could affect the social media success.
One must ensure there the audience is put into consideration before tweeting away or posting on Facebook. The number of audience and type of audience are the ultimate decider of how to post on Facebook or whether to keep embracing tweeting away.
The infographic you have shared is helpful and informative!
This comment was shared kingged.com as well
Hi Sunday, yes, I think it is very interesting too. They are too different “animals”. The audience is key to keep in one’s mind before posting on any social network today. I really liked that infographic as well and thought many would appreciate it for their Facebook pages. Thanks for coming by Sunday and for sharing on Kingged as well. Have a great rest of the week.
Hey Lisa thanks a lot for all these tips. At the beginning, I ignored twitter because it was confusing to me. As a long time facebook user, I definitely underestimated twitter. But after applying some basic things like good timing, hashtags and engaging on relevant tweets, now I am getting more referrals from twitter than my facebook page. I would say twitter is lot more easy and rewarding compared to facebook.
Hi Leo, Welcome to Inspire to Thrive. You ae welcome. That is so common – many folks do not GET Twitter and end up not using it after they sign up. But those that take their time and finally do get it, love it! It’s my favorite social networking site. Facebook is still big and important but Twitter can do more than most people are aware of. Thanks for coming by and have a great day Leo.
Hi Lisa,
Some great tips you shared with Sally! And the infographic was pretty cool too
I don’t think I’ve really got the hang of Facebook Pages yet. I’m OK with my profile engaging and sharing with people, but I find it hard to crack the Pages. I’m focusing on Twitter this year, so all my efforts are directed there, and I like having chats with people about various Tweets.
Thanks for your advice!
– David
Thank you David, I really that infographic too as Facebook pages are getting harder as Facebook wants businesses to rely on ads. I sure hope Twitter doesn’t change too much as it’s easier to engage there and generate traffic along the way. You are welcome. Have a great rest of the week David.
Hey Lisa,
Yep, they are both two totally different platforms. I know that people don’t like a ton of posting on Facebook but like you said, if you have a lot of followers then it’s perfectly okay on Twitter. Most of them won’t see the tweets anyway unfortunately but we hope they’ll catch enough.
As you pointed out as well, the times to post on both platforms will depend on your audience and time zones. I do still believe that it should be about the engagement instead of just sharing.
I don’t think you should post tweets on Facebook either no matter what people say. I think that goes for Instagram too darn it. Keep that on that platform, I don’t want to see it on Facebook or Twitter. I ignore them all so if that’s all you post I’ll just eventually unfollow you anyway. To each his own though, I understand, that’s just me.
Thanks for sharing this and I hope that Sally now gets a better feel of how to do this herself. She’s learning from a pro here.
~Adrienne
Hi Adrienne, great point about engagement being key now. That’s what all should be looking for at this point. I can’t stand those too that cross platforms like that especially if you ever click the link and it goes nowhere unless you are logged in.
Thank you for taking the time to comment and for you input Adrienne!
Happy Saturday, Lisa!
I guess I’m going to be the ogre here. My Facebook updates post to Twitter and they are well-accepted. How do I know? I get interaction on both platforms with that same status update. The majority of my Magazine and Virtual business comes from Facebook, Twitter, and now Pinterest. (I’m not counting bouncing Stumbleupon) I am “one of those” who feel that rules were made to be broken. I don’t follow all the rules of blogging and I do just fine. I am happy with the “empire” I’ve built but “not following” the so-called rules of social media. Mind you, I have done a lot of trial and error to find out exactly what works for me and have stuck to it. I’m probably one of the few that will fess up to my social networking, but again, it works for me and it must continue.
I believe it depends on nature of the content and how well receptive it is. If you have folks on Facebook that don’t care about Twitter, G+, or analytics, then you probably aren’t going to do well. If you’re posting real-life content (lifestyle), people are more prone to click and read. Just my 2 cents.
I appreciate your sharing your knowledge, Lisa. I know not everyone, maybe no one will agree with me, but it works.
Have a great weekend!
Hi Brenda, you? LOL. Oh yes I’m not a big fan of rules and what works for one doesn’t always work for another. I just never look at tweets that come from FB. It’s a wasted tweet to me. Trial and error is key with social networking. I love how Twitter shares analytics now too. It really helps.
You are welcome my friend. I hope you have a wonderful weekend and thanks for coming by with your input on this one!
Facebook has had its chance to impress me with my business page; same with LinkedIn. I’ve backed off drastically on both; I gave it a good for all of 2015 and they just didn’t want to have it.
Twitter… man, I love Twitter! It’s the only place where I really get to engage, and it’s so humbling when you see people adding you to one of their lists based on the types of things you post. Twitter wins every time!
Hi Mitch, I’m with you on that, Twitter is my FAV for sure! I do get to engage there and meet new people. On Facebook and LinkedIn you already know them. There is engagmeent on my personal FB but the business page is a bit harder unless you pay to play. I sure hope Twitter doesn’t do that too in the near future Mitch! Thanks for coming by and for your input on this one Mitch. Have a great weekend! Looks like nice weather here in Southern NE.
Cool points Lisa. I post to twitter a bunch and to Facebook more than the average user. But I also engage a ton on twitter and a bit on FB too. If you’re not asleep at the wheel, seems like your engaged FB friends and twitter followers want you to keep the updates coming. When you don’t engage and connect, folks lose interest in ya. From my experience, at least.
Hi Ryan, I post a bunch to Twitter as well and not so much Facebook. I do like to engage on both otherwise what’s the point, right? Yes, they either lose interest or email you to see if you are still alive and well. Thanks for coming by Ryan, enjoy the weekend!
This is a great post Lisa.
Thanks for sharing all this information with us. I’ve always know their was a difference between Facebook and Twitter but it’s more clear for me now after reading this.
I was never a fan of posting tweets to Facebook or vice versa. I tried that once when I first started blogging and it wasn’t well received.
I love the infographic!
Now that you’ve shown Sally the difference between Facebook and Twitter, she’s ready to tweet away!
Great post Lisa! Thanks again for sharing. Have a great day and weekend.
Cori
Hi Corina, thank you. Yes, I found many of my offline family and friends didn’t care about the blogging stuff so it was irritating them. Imagine? Thanks for coming by Corina and I hope all is well your way. Enjoy the weekend!
So many are confused about this..good illustration. The linking of accounts (twitter to FB) is the most annoying thing ever!
Thanks Pamela. It does irk me to see it often as does those that just self promote day after day. Thanks for coming by and commenting on this one. Have a great weekend!