Twitter and LinkedIn Get Divorced

For many social media business users, LinkedIn and Twitter walked hand in hand. Users could link their two accounts and easily have their Twitter updates show up on their LinkedIn profiles, updating connections on both platforms in one fell swoop. This was an excellent way for busy professionals to stay engaged in all areas without having to invest twice the time on updating. But then Twitter pulled the plug on this relationship.

With new regulations that began on June 29, users could no longer use Twitter to update LinkedIn. To some, this was a welcomed change as they were tired of seeing Twitter lingo — such as hashtags and abbreviations — when they logged in to the more professional site of LinkedIn. Many others viewed the update as just another example of Twitter continually changing the rules on users and began to fear for the future of the service. In their view, it was the ease of integration with the other social media platforms that allowed Twitter to grow to the extent that it has. To them, cutting the connection between Twitter and LinkedIn was analogous to Twitter shooting themselves in the foot.

For business professionals who made use of the link between Twitter and LinkedIn (such as a divorce attorney who posts status updates any time they publish a new blog entry), the change may take some getting used to. Fortunately, LinkedIn does make it easy to create status updates, and this will allow attorneys and other users to tailor their language for the professional crowd. Those who often tweet can simply copy their Twitter updates and paste them into their LinkedIn status boxes, remove hashtags, and post their new status.

While this will undoubtedly frustrate many people, social media users have proven themselves to be adaptable in the past and will surely find a way to remain engaged on all fronts now. Lawyers just need to take an extra minute or two to post their updates on both platforms.

Social Media Mondays is a CaseDetails.com series covering different topics in the social media world on a weekly basis. Check back every Monday for more news on social media and useful information on how law firms can use social platforms to their advantage.