Home > Life Lessons, The Business of Speaking > Twitter Identity Switch = Bad News

Twitter Identity Switch = Bad News

“Experience is the name everyone gives to their mistakes.”  Oscar Wilde 1892

Oops.  I have a new experience to chalk up.

Last weekend I was an emcee for our Rotary District Conference.  Two of my fellow Rotarians thought it would be great to Twitter some of the events of the evening just in case any media outlets or journalists that follow me find interest.  “Not a bad idea,” I thought.  I lent my username and password to one of them since I would be preoccupied.  Oops.  I forgot that my Twitter account links to my Facebook, so every Tweet shows up on my Facebook page.

That night I found 15 posts over a 2 1/2 hour time frame.  Most of which didn’t have a lot of interest unless you were there and knew what was going on.  To make matters worse, it clogged up the system for my other friends and one actually hid my posts! Ouch!

Bottom line, those posts actually violate my best practices for Twitter and Facebook.  My friend had no idea that the Tweets would end up on my Facebook.  The whole issue was my fault.  Here’s my lessons learned…

1 – Guard your Twitter username and password like your credit cards.  Don’t let others, even if well-intentioned, change your pattern of communication.

2 -If you mess up apologize – like this.  My apologies to my Facebook friends who had no interest in those posts.  I want you to read the others, so please give me a mulligan!

Remember, etiquette is important in Twitter and Facebook, too.  Make sure you control your communications and stay out of hot water.

Cheers,

red signature

I had

  1. Lisa
    April 28, 2009 at 7:38 am | #1

    Mulligan granted! :D And just so you know, I did notice it was a bit out of character for you!

  2. Lisa (Gilby)
    April 28, 2009 at 7:39 am | #2

    P.S. Your named here is listed as ‘I had’. ?

  3. Al
    April 28, 2009 at 7:51 am | #3

    I wondered what happened. You’re not alone Dan. Too much of a good thing is bad and we must take care.

    I appreciate your humbleness.

  4. April 28, 2009 at 8:17 am | #4

    Hey Dan,

    Thanks for the advice………..I was wondering how you were doing those updates. I was actually ON facebook when your colleague was tweeting away. I thought it was interesting. Congratulations on a successful year.

    Tiffany

  5. April 28, 2009 at 9:07 am | #5

    I hate it when that happens ;-)

  6. Bob Jensen
    April 28, 2009 at 11:36 am | #6

    I wondered what was going on with the flood on Facebook! Glad you cleared that up!

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