Subscribe Feed (RSS)How to Network Using Social Media Sites; Improve Your Networking
April 8th, 2007 by Joshua Dorkin | Filed under Entrepreneurship, Marketing, Networking.Technology can be a blessing and a curse. In terms of networking, it is absolutely a blessing! Over the past few years I have connected with so many people from my past and I owe most of that to social sites I’ve participated in on the ‘net. I thought it migh be nice to share some of these and how they can be used for networking. Note that this list is not comprehensive – it just covers many of the more popular (or useful) sites and how best to use them.
Mainstream Social Sites
Myspace
While teaching high-school, there was nothing more annoying then to see the students trying to sneak on to MySpace to talk to their friends. While the site is deeply flawed (we all know about the drama), it has been a great networking tool. Many people use it for marketing, but if you ‘re not looking to SPAM the universe and simply want to reconnect with people from your past, it is pretty helpful. I’ve used it to get back in touch with high-school and college friends, and keep my eyes peeled for new people worth reaching out to.
Networking Rating: 4 out of 10 (good for friends & past acquaintences)
My Myspace Profile
Facebook
Facebook is very similar to MySpace, but I have found the interface to be much easier to use and much cleaner looking. It has also been a great resource for finding friends from my past, but in terms of business affiliations, I have not found it to be of much use.
Networking Rating: 6 out of 10 (good for keeping up with former friends / fellow alumni)
My Facebook Profile
Business Networking Sites
LinkedIn
LinkedIn has, in my estimation, the most promise as a business tool. It is focused on business networking, and has tons of features that make keeping in touch and finding new affiliations/partners/employees very easy. It seems that your LinkedIn profile is becoming something like your online calling card. I love searching for people with interesting resumes to see how we’re connected . . . “linkingup” with them becomes really easy, and you know that people who reach you from the site are looking to keep it professional. While there is still room for improvement for the site, it really has become the standard for all other social sites in terms of business networking.
Networking Rating: 9 out of 10 (great for business networking)
My LinkedIn Profile
FastPitch
I just learned about FastPitch Networking from Rich Swier’s Startup Florida just yesterday. I know very little about it and have yet to do more then just play around on the sites main page, but I definitely see some promise in the site. According to Rich, the site is “a premiere destination for business professionals looking to market and network their business.” As I learn more, I’ll be sure to share it!
Networking Rating: ??? (great potential for business networking)
Using Blogging Networking Sites
MyBlogLog
It is hard to find a blog today without the MyBlogLog widget, showing the recent readers of that site. While it is fun to see who has been on your site, you can also use this little widget for networking. The great part about it is that you can then go and find out more about these people by seeing their profile. If you encounter someone interesting, you now have a great in. I’ve used MBL to link up with quite a few people, some of which I continue to stay in touch with. It is really all about creeating opportunities, and this is just another tool to have in the shed!
Networking Rating: 9 out of 10 (great for common interest networking)
My MyBlogLog Profile
Event Based Sites
Meetup.com
Truth be told, I have never attended a Meetup, but I’m starting to see the value of the site. While it seems great for things like making friends or finding people to play with (sports and the like or otherwise if that’s your thing), it is designed for networking. I think most of the value is in attending events for people in your business niche. Want to meet programmers – go to the local programmer meetup . . . looking to link up with entrepreneurs – go to the entrepreneur meetup. I’ve signed up for my first meetup and hope to let you know how it all goes . . .
Networking Rating: ??? (not sure yet)
My Meetup Profile
Using Non-Traditional Social Sites for Networking
Geni.com
I found Geni.com while doing some research on my genealogy. This site is not only a place to build your family tree, but also a hub for family networking. I started my tree less than a month ago and there are now over 1800 members in it. The site allows users to create profiles and like most social sites, to communicate with one another. You never know when that 3rd cousin once removed is going to turn into the lifeline on your next business venture. I’ve already used it to link up with family I’ve never met after moving to Colorado. It is an absolute addiction and worth checking out!
Networking Rating: 10 out of 10 (perfect for family networking)
Some of these sites are new to me so thanks for taking the time to list them and include your opinion of the Network Rating. I have been thinking of doing a post like this so I hope you don’t mind if I ping yours as a reference to what others think.
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How to Network Using Social Media Sites; Improve Your Networking
This article breaks down all the major social sites and explains how best to use them for different networking purposes.
Hi Josh,
Great rundown of a few useful sites, but how do you actually use them to network. I understand catching up with people you already know, like you use MySpace and Facebook for, but what about others. I came to this site through MyBlogLog (thanks for visiting my site, by the way) but I’m not sure how it is best used to link up with people you don’t know.
I’d love some tips on that!
Susan, I’m glad you found the post to be helpful!
Phil, you’re on your way to using the sites already for networking purposes. Would you have found the site without MBL? A great way to meet others in your niche is by reading their blogs. The MBL widget will show the webmaster that you were on the site, and they many come back to visit yours. I find out about a ton of blogs through it and introduce myself to those people I find interesting. Does that help at all?
You’re networking and you just don’t realize it!
[...] other day I wrote a post about using social media sites to network. The article covered different kinds of networking that you could conduct with those sites. Today, [...]
Thanks for the 10 out of 10 rating–we love it!–the team has been working hard to make Geni even better so stay tuned as we roll out more exciting features that our users have requested
Geni guys: Your site is amazing. My entire family is completely hooked. Well done! I’m looking forward to seeing the new features.
[...] a post about using social media sites for networking a few days ago, I mentioned a website called Geni.com. As a result of the post I was contacted by [...]
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Blog Carnival May 2007
Welcome to the May 2007 edition of what it takes to be successful online. Brandon Peele presents Landmark Advanced Course posted at GT. Vadim presents How To Find A Certain Group Of NON-english Speaking People And How To Sell Them
[...] Dorkin presents: – How to Network Using Social Media Sites; Improve Your Networking – Improving Your Brand With Promotional Advertising by TimeForBlogging – Don’t Just [...]
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[...] How to network using Social Media sites [...]
Great List! Here I found something useful regarding social media optimization. Take a look at that
http://seomization.blogspot.com/2007/10/social-media-optimization-marketing.html
Hospitality Industry
It is wearing attempting to number the hours we have invested looking up Social Networking web pages.
Personally, I find these social site a bit of a chore!
Almost every thing we do today is spam period.
Be it SMM, trying to promote something on a social networking site bla bla bla.
There is nothing new we can do today which is actually 100% ethical and morale.
One thing is for sure if we dont try to catch up soon. Optimization will defiantly see its doom. If Google thinks one step ahead we need to go 100 if we want to win this war.
Well i don’t know about you guys but i have 1800+ friends and growing i get close to 30 friend request every morning when i wake up.
None of them are spam. They are requests from various groups from various niches. Its just about were you start. you get it right you will be on your way.
If you develop a really strong profile. I’m sure it can be used well for SMM.
My target is at lest 5k active friends before mid 2009.
I’ll see you there.
Go now, take it slow and let the good times roll.
well i have a good network of friends on sns and i enjoy it really