Social networking sites like Facebook have been popular for some time now. Facebook itself is on the rise while MySpace seems to be slowing down. I really like Facebook for several reasons, but one thing I really like about it is its local networking feature. Here’s how it works:
- Sign into your account
- Go to the Networks tab
- You can jump to Canada, Great Britain, or other regions if you don’t live in the U.S.
- If you live in the U.S. you’ll see a list of states down the page in three columns
- Find your state and click on the link for the city that is closest to where you live
Local Facebook Features You’ll Love
You’ll see, once you find the page for your local network, on the top left of the screen, how many members are a part of that network. It also shows you how many friends you have, if you have any. On the right side of the screen you’ll see some photos of people in the network. You can browse those photos or search for someone you believe may already be a member.
Just below the photos you’ll see a list of upcoming events in your area. This is a really useful feature. Below that you can see what is popular in your area, a list of groups, and, on the right side of the page, a “Marketplace” where members of the network can list products for sell.
Further down the page you’ll also see statistics on members of the network – how many are single, married, male, female, etc. There is also a discussion board and links to nearby networks. At the bottom of the page is The Wall, which looks like the comment section of a blog and allows members of the network to leave messages for public view.
If you browse the members of your local network you can see their profiles, send them a message, or even “poke ‘em” and see how many friends they have.
If you have a small business and you do a lot of business locally, you might consider looking into Facebook’s local networking feature.
