To use or not to use social media apps

Social media takes time and effort, but if you have a purpose and social media clearly serves it, then that time and effort are worth it.  Things to consider:

• To truly engage others, put your heart into it.  Your purpose may be business, organizational or personal; regardless, your posts and conversations must be genuine and sincere.
• To succeed in social media, keep it going.  How much time and effort you put into it is a matter of choice.  But whatever the amount, it ought to be reasonable and sustainable for you.  
• To help you keep at it, use apps responsibly.  Whether it's the trusted hammer, or a sharing tool, you should use it to serve your purpose.  

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Using apps simply for convenience or efficiency is very impersonal, and it undermines engagement.  So not only is this irresponsible, but also it undermines your purpose.  

   

Accordingly, here is a recent conversation on Google+ about using apps for social media.

Diana: Help! Does anyone know of a social media management tool that allows you to tweet, post on a google+ PERSONAL page and LinkedIn all in one? I know hoot suite allows you to do business google plus pages but not personal. Please let me know!

I have added extensions this far on chrome but not sure how much I like it

Samuel: Yeah, I have been trying to look for a program to post to Google+ personal profile.
I guess we're looking for the same thing :)

Diana: Have yet to find a tool that does it all!

Samuel: Yup :)

Me: Hoot Suite is the only one that a friend suggested to me, but I never used it. Twitter, Google+ etc. may all fall under social media, but they're actually very different 'animals': from their platform and functionality, to your circles or networks, even culture. So while some of my posts are the same from one site to the other, I think them through carefully to make sure they're a fit for each site. Otherwise, I post things that are meant only for one site, such as sharing certain things from my home page on that site. It's a time-consuming manual effort, but I've learned to be efficient and found a decent rhythm of doing it. In the end, I don't think there's an app or tool for genuine participation and engagement. Just saying :)

Samuel: There no replacement for one-on-one engagement, but with all the responsibilities that comes with a website, it is nearly impossible to succeed with mere engagement. Don't get me wrong, I engage and update my social statuses manually most of the time, but when I am away or need to catch up with another task, a management tool comes in handy at the right time, just like emergency help!

Diana: I agree with you both above! Just trying to make lives easier for those who are pressed for time! Each platform definitely should be targeted intimately.. So to speak. Thanks for sharing I really appreciate the feedback :)

Me: Well-said, Samuel and Diana! An app should serve the purpose of engagement, first, then efficiency follows suit. Social media can become unbearably tough and tedious, otherwise, without tools.

I haven't done a lot of research on social media apps, yet, but those I've seen on Facebook and Twitter are awful and some of the people using them aren't very responsible. For example, I get a lot of automatic thank you's after following someone new on Twitter. I've deleted all of them, because they're mostly another attempt to get you to visit their website etc. without bothering to engage you first. Same on Facebook with chat pop-ups. If some of these apps can at least address me by name, then I may actually read those messages. But I imagine creating an algorithm to do that is easier said than done!

Whew, enough said :)