Many small business owners are still looking at Twitter as a waste of time. What is the point of getting connected socially to Twitter anyway? How will that affect my business?

First of all, what is Twitter?

Wikipedia defines Twitter as a free social networking and micro-blogging service that allows its users to send and read other users’ updates (otherwise known as tweets), which are text-based posts of up to 140 characters in length.

As a small business owner, we are our brand builders. In many ways, we are the brand. Getting potential customers know you as a person and not just as a business person can make you and your company more likable. This and the opportunity to interact with your buyers with short messages are what make twittering worth-while.

Twitter Safety

Having some personal details exposed to the public somehow gives some of us the creeps. Here is a safety tip to ensure that your twittering doesn’t get you into danger:

Be careful with what information you make public. You want to be sociable without opening up all your personal information. Here are some of the things that you should not divulge:

• Do not tell people where you are going. Instead, if you want to share some insights of your life, you can mention where you just came back from.
• Do not let people know if you are going away for holidays or a business trip. You don’t know who you might be calling attention to when nobody’s home or if the wife is home alone.
• Do not let the world know if you live alone or when you are alone, unless you want to attract unexpected visitors.

Don’t fall victim to spammers and scammers by:

• not logging in when you click a link in Twitter that leads to a page requiring you to log in.
• If you are following Twitter Trending Topics and Twitter Replies from Strangers, be very cautious about clicking any links.

Based on the number of users worldwide, the most popular social networking site today is Facebook. The beauty of Facebook is that it combines the best of both professionals and personal networking making it a good relationship building tool.

Many people spend countless amounts of time on these sites, whether at home, at a café, or even sometimes at work. Some don’t even check their emails regularly but will not a miss a day on Facebook. Social networking sites like Facebook definitely have changed the way the world works. It is a pity not to utilize this tool to your advantage.

How Facebook helps small business owners:

• Get strong online presence- once you have put up a great profile on Facebook, if somebody types your name in Google or any other search engine, your Facebook profile pops up on the first page. By having a well thought-out profile, showing what you can do, who you can help and what you offer, you are giving your business free advertising.
• A good way to publicize your company events and offers.
• Connect with people in your industry – it’s a great way to share the same interests and discuss about common business problems and solutions.
• Reach your target market – due to Facebook’s feature that allows you to see friends of friends, the possibility of reaching out your target market is phenomenal. You can easily start a conversation with someone based on the fact that you have a common friend.
• Use facebook applications such as the marketplace to post your products and services  or little widgets that enables you to syndicate your blog directly on your profile

Safety issues about Facebook and how to address it:

Being a public platform, as much as there is a chance for you to build a good reputation, there is also a chance to damage it. This could be avoided by keeping a professional persona in public and leave those really personal, goofy stuff with your closest friends. This can be done by setting the privacy controls on your Facebook accounts to restrict access to your details to only the people who you want them to be seen.