Facebook and Twitter Sweepstakes

I have been seeing more and more sweepstakes using Facebook and Twitter. I have been reluctant to enter these social networking sites as I'm not sure how they work in relationship to contests. I do not want to become a real Facebook member and have my information available for loads of people---same for Twitter--but I can sense this is how a lot of new sweepstakes will be run.
I hope that someone here can explain to me how I can enter these and still maintain some anonymity.

Thanks for your help.

I feel the exact same way. I have a facebook but I do not want it for sweepstakes so I'd have to create a new one. I also have no idea how to use twitter and do not understand how either work in regards to sweeps.

I'll keep an eye on this and hopefully someone can help us out

I tweet away since about 4 weeks and I learn as I go. Sometimes my daughter helps me !

Originally Posted by shel772 I hope that someone here can explain to me how I can enter these and still maintain some anonymity.

Hope someone has an answer to the above.

I am also concerned that too many sweepstakes are going to Facebook or Twitter. Have no idea how to twitter and why I would even need to. As far as Facebook, I only signed up to see photos posted there from friends and family and still don't know enough about it to feel secure to use it for sweepstakes or anything else.

I did win a video ipod from a sweep that I had to enter on myspace, figured had better odds because a lot of people proabably did not have an account to enter it

the only people that can see your info on facabook are the people you accept as friendst so you could have an account with no friends and only use it for sweeps.

I may have to get a twitter account if I want to enter them

When you sign up for facebook or twitter you have the option to keep all of your info private. When someone clicks on your page they will see nothing unless they are added as your friend.

Originally Posted by shivas105 When you sign up for facebook or twitter you have the option to keep all of your info private. When someone clicks on your page they will see nothing unless they are added as your friend.

Well my friends and family don't know I sweep and I'd like to keep it that way. How can I keep my friends on FB from knowing? When you become a fan it shows up on the right hand side of the newsfeed and is listed in your profile info. Tried to make another FB account and I was locked out.

Originally Posted by alpha16 Well my friends and family don't know I sweep and I'd like to keep it that way. How can I keep my friends on FB from knowing? When you become a fan it shows up on the right hand side of the newsfeed and is listed in your profile info. Tried to make another FB account and I was locked out.

i was wondering the same, wanted a facebook just 4 sweeps. i dont like entering those that ask u to share info w/your friends but i d like to enter some of the sweeps

I won a trip from Rachael Ray show on Twitter.

Can u set up a twitter or facebook account and use it strickly for sweeps?
I think I might check into that because there are more and more sweeps
that require these accounts.

Originally Posted by alpha16 Well my friends and family don't know I sweep and I'd like to keep it that way. How can I keep my friends on FB from knowing? When you become a fan it shows up on the right hand side of the newsfeed and is listed in your profile info. Tried to make another FB account and I was locked out.

I set up a second FB account (using my sweeps email for validation). I have no listed "friends", just the things I had to become a fan of. I keep that totally separate from my regular FB account.

I have won twice in the last 2 Day's on Facebook!!!

yes you can with twitter but not the facebook ones. Well you can if you dont put a lot of personal info which you dont have to. Twitter is fast, easy and I have won a BUNCH of stuff in the past month. Other OLSers are winning there too.

Come join us on twitter

On facebook I will enter only if I can become a fan I wont if I have to friend them

Originally Posted by BentonWesley I set up a second FB account (using my sweeps email for validation). I have no listed "friends", just the things I had to become a fan of. I keep that totally separate from my regular FB account.

I think that's the way to go.
Is there a way to separate the news feed of friends vs things I've fanned? It would be nice.

Be careful about having a facebook or twitter account just for sweeps. I have seen in some rules lately "and don't use a facebook/twitter account that is just set up and not used except for sweepstakes" or something to that effect in wording.

It is a form of promotion and they want your friends and family members to see their products and companies listed and talked about. Once you become fans/friends of a company anytime they put an update it can pop up on your homepage/profile and thus they are marketing to anyone that sees your homepage. And the company/sponsor can see if your page is inactive (meaning you don't put updates like "Just got back from the grocery store. Totally long lines!") so they will know if it is a dummy account or not. If you only have fanpages of other companies/products/movies and no real human friends that will be another tip off.

Sponsors could never tell if people had dummy emails just set up for sweepstakes or referrals. But with Facebook and twitter it will be more obvious to them. I think more and more are going to start checking for dummy accounts. The whole point of holding a sweeps is to promote a product, if they are just promoting to facebook pages that aren't monitored by real people (meaning your friends and family, the other fanpage sponsors aren't on facebook all day!) they aren't hitting an audience.

My two cents!
Tricia