How to Tweet Through Facebook

Keeping track of all of the different social networking sites can be tricky. One way to lighten the load is to have your Facebook account automatically send your status updates to your Twitter account. For awhile it required a few different steps but now there's a Facebook app that makes it all very easy. Once you have it set up it will simply take your updates and beam them to Twitter instantly. They'll show up on your Twitter page and be tagged as "from Facebook" underneath it. What's more, any links that are included will use the URL shortener fb.me, so you'll be able to fit more into each tweet.

Here's how to get it set up:

Log into your Facebook account and search for Twitter in the search box. The first result will be the application. You'll know you've got the right one because it has an icon of a little blue bird and says "Application 'underneath the word Twitter. Hit return and you'll be taken right to it, because Facebook automatically takes you to the first search result.

Once you make it to the page you'll see a Twitter-ish logo and the Facebook logo with two arrows showing a connection between the two. It says you can connect your two accounts so that you can post tweets to your Facebook account, and also display your Twitter account on your Facebook profile so your friends can find it. It also works the other way so that your updates get transferred as tweets. If you do not have a Twitter account they provide a link right in the application sign up page so that you can sign up for one. If you have one, you're all set to go and you can put in your login credentials and link your accounts right away. The two API's are linked so your information is secure.

You can then decide to use your Facebook photo as your Twitter photo and can swap it out with the press of a button. Then you should choose where you want your tweets to show up. If you have additional pages on Facebook you can also have them show up there as well.

Facebook and Twitter have a strange relationship, with Mark Zuckerberg wanting to buy Twitter and the deal not coming to fruition. Instead FB simply copied the Twitter update box that became the main feature when using Facebook. It makes sense that the two would cooperate with each other, since they both seem to cater to different needs and they each have their own unique business models. Many people have accounts with both services, so it only makes sense to support easy and open connectivity.