The old adage goes “if you can’t beat ‘˜em, join ‘˜em,” and that’s exactly what Facebook seems to be doing when it comes to Twitter. Since there’s really very little sense in the two social networks fighting it out (they are both very different, after all), Facebook and Twitter are now working together. You might have noticed a difference in your Twitter linked Facebook posts over the past few days, and that difference has everything to do with this new partnership. What’s happening to your Twitter and Facebook feeds? Here’s a rundown of all you need to know!

What You’ll See When You Post to Facebook

First, you should know that you’ll have to change your Facebook settings if you want your Twitter and Facebook accounts to work simultaneously. This means that you will also have to give both Twitter and Facebook permission to work together, so keep this mind and read the fine print. Once that’s done, you will then be able to link your Twitter account to your Facebook account, so that anything you post on Twitter will show up on Facebook – but here’s the really new part: your Twitter/Facebook posts will display your Twitter name and a link that will allow any of your Facebook friends to follow you on Twitter. Any hashtag that you insert in a Twitter post will also show up on your Facebook feed (though hashtags are not yet clickable).

This new integration is really useful if you want to pick up some more Twitter followers or want your Facebook friends to know what’s happening. Once you set up the Twitter allowance, all of your Twitter posts will automatically appear as part of your Facebook feed, which may or may not be a good thing (try not to annoy your Facebook friends too much!).

Some Slight Issues Arise

Some users have noted a few problems with this new Facebook and Twitter integration. First, Facebook often gets the name of a Twitter user wrong and inserts a random letter or comma after a name (which won’t get your any followers). Then, there’s the problem of hashtags on Facebook. There are some people out there who believe that hashtags simply don’t belong on Facebook. Of course, this depends on the person and it should be pointed out that a hashtag is simply a way of writing anything online these days.

Aside from these two problems (and the fact that you could really annoy some people with constant Twitter updates – keep in mind that Twitter and Facebook are completely different networks!), the new integration tool works well. If you’re wondering why Facebook has gone ahead and allow this new integration, the answer is quite simple: by allowing people to post Twitter updates, hashtags, and Twitter names on Facebook, Facebook succeeds when it comes to keep people on the social network – and not on Google Plus or another network. Whether or not this Facebook tactic will work is uncertain, but it does seem certain that the new Twitter and Facebook partnership is here to stay.