How To Post Simultaneously on Multiple Social Websites

If you've signed up for and built a following on multiple social-media websites, you already may have traded the novelty of connecting with others for the time-consuming routine of cross posting your thoughts to each site individually. Save your energy and effort by using built-in and third-party shortcut services that turn multiple steps into one-step convenience. With these time-savers, you can create a single post and share it efficiently among more than one of your social profiles.

Instructions

All Tweets to Facebook

• Post your tweets to Facebook directly through Twitter without a third-party application, service or website. In September 2011, Twitter launched support for cross posting to Facebook.

• Click on the "Profile" icon -- a head-and-shoulders human silhouette -- in the bar at the top of the Twitter screen. Choose "Settings" from the drop-down menu that opens
• Click on the "Connect to Facebook" button when it appears. Log in to your Facebook account when you're prompted, if you aren't already connected. When the Facebook "Request for Permission" window opens, click on the "Allow" button.
• Open the application settings in Facebook. Select Twitter from the list of options, then set the "App Privacy" drop-down menu to "Friends."

Selective Tweets to Facebook

• Use the Facebook Selective Tweets app to share only those tweets you want your Facebook friends to see. Go to the Facebook apps page for Selective Tweets and sign up your profile for the app. You can enter "Selective Tweets" in the search box at the top of any Facebook page to find the app's sign-up page.
• Enter your Twitter username in the box on the "Your Profile" tab on the Selective Twitter page and click on the "Save" button. This establishes the link to Twitter from Facebook.
• Compose your tweets using your favorite Twitter interface -- mobile or on the Web. End each tweet you want to share on Facebook with the hashtag "#fb." Only those tweets with the hashtag cross over to your Facebook profile.

HootSuite

• Log in to your HootSuite account and open your HootSuite Settings. Click on the "Social Networks" item and choose "Add Social Network."
• Select from Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Foursquare, WordPress and Myspace. Authorize each social network you want to include, enabling each to accept access from HootSuite.
• Click on the Launch Bar at the top left corner of the HootSuite interface to open the HootSuite Launch Menu. Type a message into the Compose field, pick the sites to which you want to send it and click on the "Send Now" button.
• Click on the floppy-disk-shaped "Save" icon to save your message as a draft so you can review and send it later. Click on the calendar-shaped "Schedule a Status Update" icon to set a date and time for HootSuite to send your message.

Tips & Warnings

• When you combine Twitter with Facebook through Twitter's native support for Facebook, only your tweets cross over, not retweets -- unless you create them completely manually -- or replies, otherwise known as mentions.
• If you connect Twitter to Facebook through Twitter, you can't use Selective Tweets. The converse also is true. Use one approach at a time or your tweets won't appear on Facebook.
• Limit your message length on HootSuite to avoid exceeding Twitter's 140-character maximum.
• Think carefully about what you cross post. Some message types and content don't lend themselves equally well to all social media services.