Jing Social Media Comparison

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In this video, I compare my uses of Google+ and Twitter and answer the following questions:

• What do you see in terms of advertisements or branding?
• On Google+: As you can see, there are no paid advertisements in my Stream. Google believes that while you browse updates from people and companies you care about, it is the wrong time to show you an ad, just as if you saw ads at a party or while you were talking with your friend. Instead, advertisements comes in forms of social recommendations, annotated by my friends with Google’s +1 button, when I am searching for a news article, a product, review or app. There is branding though and many pages have a Google+ page where customers can interact with them. Cadbury UK, the chocolate company, among others such as The White House, also invite customers to be in their Hangouts, a 10-person video call, making a more intimate connection between customers and the company.
• On Twitter: As you can see, advertisements are injected into my feed, whether I like the company or not. I have not followed American Express and it looks exactly like any other tweet in my feed, minus the small yellow promoted symbol.
• Which have you "chosen" (liked, become a fan of, followed, or sought out in some other way)?
• On Google+: I follow a wide-range of people on Google+, including my friends, companies I hear or post about often, companies I like and people at Google. I follow both companies I like and dislike. I can separate every single identity in different Circles, and share different things with different Circles and browse the individual feeds of each Circle, just like how in real life you share different things with different groups of people in your life.
• On Twitter: On this twitter account, my personal one, I strictly follow friends and other such people I know. On my other twitter account, my public account, I mainly just follow important news figures and outlets, and other interesting people and companies. They’re mainly companies I like, and so the “Who To Follow” suggestions are very different. 
• Which have found you?
• On Google+: A lot of people and companies have added me back on Google+, including Newt Gingrich, the American Red Cross, the City of Scottsdale, Cathay Pacific Airways, Samsung Mobile, Blackberry, The Home Depot, TED, T-Mobile, American Airlines, Mashable, YouTube and even Google’s Senior Vice President Vic Gundotra.
• On Twitter: MythBusters, USA Today, HTC USA and Mike Allen follow me on Twitter.
• Are they appealing to you?
• On Google+: Many of those that have found me are appealing to me, especially: The City of Scottsdale because that’s where I lived. T-Mobile, Samsung, Blackberry, Mashable and YouTube because I love posting about technology. Vic Gundotra because I am passionate about Google, both their business and what they stand for. I can get official information about new Google announcements and products and see what his thoughts are on a variety of topics.
• On Twitter: MythBusters is kind of random. But I do post a lot about the news and current events on both Google+ and Twitter, so it makes sense as to why USA Today and Mike Allen follow me. I used to have an HTC USA phone and tweeted about HTC a lot, and so that makes sense too.
• Do you click them?
• On Google+: I find myself clicking on a lot of posts, in part because there is also visual imagery, unlike on Twitter. If people post about music or link to an article, there is a snippet of preview for it.
• On Twitter: On Twitter, I find myself not clicking on anything very much, unless I’m super interested. When I’m trying to catch up on a lot of tweets, I tend to skip a lot, just because each tweet is so similar in nature. It’s also very hard to tell if a link in a tweet is legitimate because there is no preview.
• How are they framed (as information? as an outright ad? as a response to an action you took, like searching for a specific product online?)?
• On Google+: Most of the things on Google+ are information or an ad. Motorola, for example, used social media, and the visual imagery of Google+ to create hype for their newest device. Express has been using the visual imagery, but for ads. Furthermore, their activity can result in an action on Google’s Search engine, unlike how other social networks work.
• On Twitter: Many from news figures and outlets are framed as information, though their priority is to get you to click-through to their website. A lot of other companies frame their tweets as advertisements.
• How do these affect you as a consumer (have you purchased from or supported an organization based on a sidebar advertisements or a Tweet, for example)?
• On Google+: When it comes to social annotations, when I see that my friend or people I trust have +1’ed a YouTube video, a website, an app or a restaurant, I am more likely to choose that over ones that have not been +1’ed. It gives me more confidence. But also, posts from companies on social media makes the company stay in the back of my head.
• On Twitter: They have little effect for me as a consumer. Because I have little interest in clicking through every single link on Twitter and because very little sticks out to me on Twitter, I don’t take the time to find out what the companies are talking about. It’s nice to have updates and it’s nice to be able to tweet the company to compliment or complain, as I usually get faster responses from social media than from calling or mailing. They also take it more seriously because it is public.