Online social networking: Stop wasting time manually updating profiles

Are you tired sharing your same thoughts at different social networks? Do you find annoying, copying the same exact message from Facebook to Twitter, LinkedIn or Google+ to reach out all your friends or followers? Online social networking can become a tedious and time-consuming task. Here is how I finally put an end on wasting my precious time deciding where I was going to post my next status update.

I use Friends+Me application to link my Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn profiles to my Google+ account. This means that whatever I post at Google+, it is almost immediately shared at the other online social networks. Obviously, I now use Google+ exclusively for my online social networking needs, sharing my opinion and sparking new discussions.

That is also a good thing for my blogs. Writers and bloggers are benefited by a reputable Google+ profile, since Google has introduced the Author Rank. Becoming an authority on the web will likely bring more followers, which in turn will bring more partnerships and more business towards your way. Not to mention that your new post is probably going to be visited by more readers, by standing out at the search results.

In other words, successful online social networking will improve your online business one way or another. That is why I didn’t mind for the yearly subscription fee of $49,99 of Friends+Me service.

Let’s face it though. Not everyone is making a living online and most of you are just socializing via the popular online social networking sites. I am sure professional writers will have already found a suitable solution to their needs by now, like Mike Elgan who actually uses Google+ for daily blogging with big success!

So, what are your benefits of maintaining an active Google+ and letting your other online social networking profiles be updated by third-party software like Friends+Me? Don’t worry, Friends+Me is free if you just want to link your Google+ profile and not your business Google+ page.

Saving time by posting an update on a single online social networking site.

You post a new status at Facebook. Then copy your words, login to Twitter and… tweet! Over to LinkedIn, pasting your text. Submit. Next, Google+. You have already logged in automatically to your Gmail account, so that’s one step less. Still, you need to paste your message and share it.

Instead of all that, you start by sharing your thoughts at Google+ social network. Presto! Your status update is now copied automatically to all other online social networks. Cool huh?

Automatically formatting your message to fit each social network.

When you paste your original message to other social networks, you may be prompted to change it. How so? Easy. Think of the character restriction of Twitter. If your message at Facebook was 200 characters long, you must shorten it before you tweet it. Period.

Okay, cutting out words of your message that you try to deliver to the world is the most annoying thing. How about the formatting, like paragraphs, bold and italics or including multiple links in your post? I know, short and to-the-point messages usually get the most attention. But what if you really need to explain something in detail, or you want to elaborate using more than 160 characters!

No, I don’t think tweeting 4 messages in a row ending with “continued to next tweet” will appeal to your followers!

Keeping your photos at one place.

Maybe you want to provide more proof for your statement, by attaching both an image and a link! Where should you upload that image? Until now, everywhere. Soon you will end up with the same photo gallery all over your online social networking profiles!

Do you really keep 5 folders in your local hard disk with the same exact photos in them?

No, I didn’t think so. And now one photo gets all the likes, tweets and pluses in just one place. Would you rather have 5 identical photos with 10 likes/shares/tweets each, or a single photo with 30 shares and 5 comments? That brings us to the next point.

The discussion is not spread out to 4 different online social networks.

A friend of yours commented at your Facebook status. You reply to them. Another comments on your tweet. Two more ask questions on your Google+ update. A professional wants to know more at LinkedIn. Some of those comments may look alike. You are now forced to give the same answers at 4 different social networks!

Not only you have wasted time to post your update, but you now waste quadruple time to get back to every commentator! Some of those discussions are even focused on the same subject. Why don’t you bring all those people together in one single discussion? Most probably the discussion will attract even more comments than before!

What if speed is equally necessary?

Quickly sharing something important.

You have that spectacular idea that you desperately need to share with your friends. You absolutely have to let all the world know of the news you just heard. Quick, open up Google+ and type in the breaking news!

Done. Every Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn user is now informed. Move on to your next story, or build on that news you have just shared, by posting updates as comments. You can also edit your original story, correcting that typo you made, trying to speed things up.

The benefits of using actively a single online social networking site and having the rest of your social networking profiles automatically updated are overwhelming. Take it from a guy that has shared hundreds of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+ updates. Granted, the majority of those were promoting my writing or my blogs. Building reputation is paramount in writing online.

Yet, that wasn’t always the case. At times I had so many news coming my way that I had to filter them out, or combine them in just 150 characters! I also didn’t want to post too often, like 5 or 10 minutes, driving my friends and followers away. I am not some kind of news room! In addition, speed is crucial when spreading the news. And in the end, comments kept appearing all over the place. Where should I reply first? Oh no, the same question for the 10th time? Come on!

Still, all those benefits truly apply to you as well, as a regular Internet user. No offense, but if you don’t use Internet for business, for income or for self-promotion, you are probably just killing time, looking for news, gossip talks and useful information that will make your (real or virtual) life easier. And that is what I am talking about here; improving your virtual social life.

However, you never know when your business will also call for web involvement. And it would be better to have built a reputation online when that time comes. So, start today by bringing all your online social networking profiles together. You’ll thank me later!