FaceBook & Twitter – When to Use Like and Follow Icons

We recently had a question from a reader about all the FaceBook and Twitter buttons – specifically, on when to use various icons on a web site.

• FaceBook Follow
  • About: This directs the viewer into your FaceBook account page. The viewer can follow your FaceBook feed to see your status, photos, followers, and other FaceBook widgets.
  • Installation: The Follow icon is usually used as a branding and marketing device to show where users can get additional information about you and your company. It is typically installed near your contact information in the header, footer, or sidebar.
  • About: This allows users to like your page on their FaceBook account. In essence, they put a quick message and link on their status page about your web site. This is great for spreading the word about your web site.
  • Installation: The FaceBook Like icon can be installed on the main blog page and individual pages. It is usually installed near the top or bottom of a post. Sometimes you see it in the sidebar as an icon, or even on a floating sidebar that is constantly on the side of the screen.
• Twitter Follow
  • About: This directs the viewer into your Twitter account page and/or allows users to instantly add themselves as followers. There they can follow your Twitter feed of updates.
  • Installation: The Follow icon is usually used as a branding device to show where users can get additional information about you and your company. It is typically installed near your contact information in the header, footer, or sidebar.
• Twitter Like
  • About: This allows users to like your page on their Twitter accounts. In essence, they put a quick message and link on their status pages about your web site. This is great for spreading the word about your web site.
  • Installation: The Twitter Follow icon can be installed on the main blog page and individual pages. It is usually installed near the top or bottom of a post. Sometimes you see it in the sidebar as an icon, or even on a floating sidebar that is constantly on the side of the screen.
• ShareThis
  • About: This is a tool with various ways to share a link, including Twitter, FaceBook and email. It combines all social media icons into one link.
  • Installation: It can be installed on the main blog page and individual pages. It can be installed near the top or bottom of a post, the sidebar, or even on a floating sidebar that is constantly on the side of the screen.
• Facebook / Twitter Status
  • About: This pushes your own feeds from those sites back onto your blog or web site, so users on your blog see all your recent status updates from Twitter or Facebook.
  • Installation: Typically these are larger in size requirements, so you need to install them in your sidebar or footer.