Why do you need a personal or business website if you can create identities on Facebook, LinkedIn,Twitter or other social networks? The simple answer is control. Control of your content, control of your privacy, and control of your brand identity are all reasons why a website would be preferable to a social networking account. The limitations of social networks can easily be overlooked but are significant.
Control of content
Social networks determine the type of content they allow based on their terms of service agreements. This means that your content must be in accordance to these terms or risk having your content/account removed. How your content is presented is also determined by the social network you use. This limits your flexibility and ability to use dynamic content as you please. For example, many social networks will not display high quality images at the original quality. They will instead attempt to optimize the image to make it load quicker and quality is lost in this process.
Privacy concerns
When you enter data into social networks this data may be used to provide targeted advertisements or shown to other users as part of the social experience. You should pay attention to the privacy policy and privacy settings of any social network that you use. Third party applications may also need access to your data in order to work with the social network of your choice. Also worth consideration is the fact that social networks are free to change their privacy policy and usually do over time. This could impact who sees the content you display on these networks and how it is shared.
Uncertain Future
While certain social networks are definitely popular today there is no guarantee that they will be popular or even exist in the long term. This makes it risky to base your personal or business identity solely on a platform that depends highly on current fads.
The best of both worlds
The advantages of social networking cannot simply be overlooked because of its limitations. Social networking has revolutionized how information is shared over the internet. We therefore encourage the use of the services that social networks offer. However, for maximum control of your brand and identity you should consider creating your own website even though it will cost some money. The investment gives you the freedom to display your content as you please and the ability to expand as much or as little as you like. The best part is that your content can still be shared using the same free social networks. Your investment can also be regarded as a sign that you are serious and credible and believe in the quality of your content enough to put your money behind it.
Last Updated on September 4, 2015 by Nathan Vidal