Facebook and Twitter create new PR word of mouth opportunities

Today a couple of the most networked and rapidly growing online social utilities, Facebook and Twitter, came together and the new marriage will have a huge impact on word of mouth PR and marketing.

From inside Facebook, you can now post to your Twitter feed and have your message piped out to your Twitter buddies and have it appear in your Facebook timeline. One post from one site and your message goes out on IM, SMS, RSS (and through RSS to email if you want) and most importantly, where the big network is in the UK - to your Facebook community.

So, for example, you want to get product PR awareness for a target demographic that loves Facebook but which is also hyper-connected. They use mobiles, IM and RSS loads too. A campaign using all these comms tools managed from one place is what Facebook and Twitter have brought out today.

What great timing that PR Week publishes a really (really) basic feature on social networks this week, focusing mainly on Facebook. For anyone coming at the debate fresh, it's maybe worth reading But worth watching out for more is the impact intermingling networks will have on word of mouth PR and marketing.

So I'm writing this post to my blog, from my BlackBerry on the train on my way home. Shortly after I'll FaceTwitter, or whetever it will be called. Then it's the long weekend at last.

Comments

[Dennis Howlett]

If that happens then we'll all switch off - especially Twitter

[Drew]

No necessarily Dennis. There are plenty of brands on Twitter and Facebook. See how many local pubs are on Facebook? If I did the PR for a pub chain (and I used to) I'd be setting up groups for every pub then building communities around each one - talking about the offers, gigs, free wi-fi, whatever. It doesnt have to be intrusive.