Social networking and social marketing seems to still scare many business owners. I understand it can be very overwhelming when someone or a business first decides to get involved in social networking. There are so many different websites to join that your head starts to spin. Which do you start with.

Nobody has an answer on which are right for you or your business. Experts might have opinions depending on which target audience will best connect with your business. Bottom line is that you need to experiment and try many of them until you can accurately decide on which ones you should drop. You might find out that your business responds very well to Myspace but in Facebook it just can’t get any traction. This type of information will only present itself if once you have spent sometime actively engaging in the top social networking platforms. It is important to try them before you rule them out. Remember that there is no magic pill in online marketing and it requires many different efforts acting simultaneously. Much of your target audience will cross paths and use multiple social networking platforms to engage with others so it is important to be in all areas so you are visible at all times. Much of online marketing is trial and error. It is very difficult to predict what outcomes you will have as an organization or business.

Job cuts are here and they will probably be here for some time longer. 2009 will be a strange year for many people but there is hope out there. There are still many tools out there to become visible in front of employers it just requires some creativity. There are not too many people out there anymore that are not bouncing around on Facebook, Myspace or even Linkedin. If you have recently lost your job or feel like you might now is the time to take advantage of these free social networking sites. Linkedin could be a lifesaver. Linkedin allows you to update your resume and network with other like minded professionals right from the comfort of your home. often times recruiters target websites like Linkedin to find new recruits. By making connections and engaging in conversations online you can quickly make yourself visible. Linkedin provides a platform where you can showcase your strengths for everyone to see, even potential employers. Linkedin allows you to join groups and even visit offline get togethers such as networking events and happy hours where others can get to know each other. I’m not saying Linkedin is the end all be all but this tool can provide a valuable stepping stone to get in front of the right decision makers become visible. Linkedin has a variety of options for you to customize your profile. You even have the option to pay a monthly fee for additional exposure through the network. Linkedin in is not a confusing website by any means. If you have internet experience setting up a profile should be a breeze.

More and more people attempt to try to jump on the bandwagon with social networking websites thinking that if you build it they will come. Not the case, launching a social networking website these days requires more than just a good idea.

Simply building a website and letting it sit will not bring in traffic. Yes Facebook and Myspace are giants and everyone would like to be like them but its going to take a new spin and approach if you want to launch a social networking website. Targeting a Niche is getting more and more difficult as websites like Facebook allow you to launch groups with like minded individuals for networking purposes. There were many websites right around the time of Myspace and Facebook that crashed and burned and these giants were rewarded with that traffic. Ten years ago you could launch a website and traffic might have just showed up knocking on your door but with all the clutter online now you need a spear gun marketing approach to bring in good website traffic. Social networking websites are everywhere. Most of them look similar to a barren wasteland or filled with spam bots.

Just ask Mark Zuckerberg, when he was getting Facebook ramped up many don’t know that he was opening credit cards left and right just to pay the hosting fees. Guess what, he still can’t make money on it. Before you decide to cash in your savings account to build that new social networking site that you are guaranteed will generate hundreds of thousands of visitors, do some home work and make sure this is the path you really want to take.

I have been thinking about this topic for a while and I think it is really important to touch upon this issue because someday this could open up into a whole new area for doctors to analyze and study patients. I’m sure it has already begun but the addiction level some have to social networking websites is becoming a serious problem. You all know who you are and we all of at least one in our circle of friends. Those that are out with a group of friends and cannot stop checking their Facebook or Myspace page through the iPhone or Blackberry. I see it occurring more and more every where I go but it seems the ability to stay connected with others whether you barley know them and haven’t seen them in ten years or you just saw them last weekend seems to be consuming peoples lives. I personally know people that when they are out they are glued to their mobile device responding, updating friend lists and i can’t help to stare at them and wonder just how bad this sickness has spread. How bad is it effecting their lives at homes with wives, children what ever their situation maybe.

Don’t get me wrong I enjoy using social networking website like anybody else but for some people it has reached a very unhealthy point in their life. Am I the only one that notices this? Some would rather be connected digitally online than actually live in person with people they know. I mean if you are out with a group of friends and you have someone that constantly checks their Myspace every few minutes they would clearly rather be connected with their “web friends” than their real live friends. I wouldn’t write this post if I didn’t see this happening more and more. The social networking websites are not to blame because they are just the tool and it is up to us humans to show some self control. What happens when your social networking takes over your life? Some people are so obsessed with becoming social networking celebrities that they become out of touch with real life and everything around them is effected, their job, school everything important to them outside of their PDA or computer.

So this leads to another question, is this becoming a full blown condition? If so, how do you treat it? Like weening of a junkie at a heroin clinic? the ability to be so connected with total strangers has truly become a historical change in social behavior that will be someday studied with great scrutiny. Right now we are at the very nose end of it. We know meeting people out in person can sometimes be very difficult but the ability to hide behind a computer has revolutionized the social interaction landscape as we know. You can find everything from a pizza to a wife online and this alone fills many different voids for people.

Is it just me or does anybody agree or disagree with me? please let me know how you feel about this social networking disease that is slowly infiltrating our generation and generations to come.

The big wide world of the web continues to get smaller as social media sites start to combine some of their power. In the past we have seen shared profiles, now we are seeing Friendster providing support for OpenSocial and Facebook applications.

You can now port applications from Facebook for example, into you Friendster profile. Furthermore, Friendster has open policy on monetizing their profiles and the applications. Friendster is the largest social networking site in Asia with 60 (out of 80) million users.

While on the topic of Facebook, they have announced that Dublin will become their international headquarters. From Dublin, they will run all of their international operations and provide support to users in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East.

Furthermore, Facebook employees will soon be able to sell their shares in the organization. From November 1, Facebook employees can sell up to 20% or $900,00

The company has a right of first refusal over employees’ shares, meaning that it has the right to match any price offered by a buyer; most companies have tighter restrictions.

An interesting study from Australia that has been reported on in a post on WebProNews provides an insight into how men and women tick. A large of majority of men listed surfing the net as their number one relaxation.

There were far less women who labeled it their number one pastime, they prefer family and friends. Interestingly, men now prefer the internet to sex according to the statistics quoted. With less than 50% of men claiming sex as their number one relaxation preference to over 50% for the internet. Women were slightly lower at around 40%

The internet is still a male dominated society. There are of course many notable women who have found their place but when it comes to social networking, it is the principle domain of men.

It is an interesting statistic if you accept that women are often more social than men although they are probably prefer face-to-face contact to the anonymity of the internet. The trend is changing slowly with younger women than men accessing social sites such as Facebook and Myspace.

There is a key for social marketing there. If you want to target males then social networking sites such as Linkedin maybe more appropriate. If you want to target women, particularly young women, the Facebook or Myspace maybe more appropriate.

One I notice on many of the social networking sites is the number of business people who ‘hang out’ with fellow business people. As far as networking is concerned, that is fine; when it comes to social marketing, it seems pointless.

The aim of social marketing is to put your name, your brand, and/or your product out into the public domain - in other words, to promote your business. Promoting your business to other businesses is not going to increase your sales. You may increase your knowledge of the industry, but that is not the purpose of social marketing.

Don’t get me wrong, there is a need to network with others within your niche. However that should, in the long run, be secondary to promoting your business. To successfully promote your business, you need to be where the potential customer base is. This requires a little research and an understanding of which sites your demographic audience frequents, and what sort of marketing is permitted on those sites.

Hanging out with your peers is fine for networking - just remember to hang out where your customers are if you want to increase your business.

Social media seems to be going through a phase of shakeups and shakeouts at present. StumbleUpon has recently made some changes and this followed Facebooks big change to profile pages. There are still a lot of mumblings and grumblings about those changes.

This last week has seen Yahoo! introducing a new look to their MyYahoo! Pages, it seems it may include new features and new functionality.

The latest to go through some changes is Twitter. Like most of the other changes, Twitter’s is more about looks than function. From what I can see there is little in the way of function changes, the look is certainly changing.

Twitter is probably one site that did need the change. Facebook on the other hand is still being questioned about its changes.

On the Shakeout site of things, there seems to have been a bit of a shakeout at Facebook with many having their accounts suspended, often for having to many friends - a social site with too many friends. You can figure that one out - I cannot.

StumbleUpon has finally decided to remove people from your friend’s lists if they have unsubscribed. At least now you will know that all your friends are actually active users.

Talking about StumbleUpon, it seems they may be up for sale. Anyone want to buy a social bookmarking site? Ebay have finally decided to divest itself of some of the poor purchases it made last year. StumbleUpon is the second to go with Ebay also selling of Skype. One wonders why they made these purchases since neither could be said to be complementary to their business.

Google were said to be interested in acquiring a bookmarking site. It will be interesting to see if they do go in for a sniff around. SU would probably offer a lot to Google. Of course Microsoft could step in if, for no other reason, to stop Google acquiring it. The winner then would be Ebay, particularly if a bidding war breaks out.

A lot of changes, and lot of updates, but when it all boils down, the actual functions of the various sites has remained fairly much unchanged, including the weaknesses.

Linkedin announced earlier this month a collaboration with CNBC. As part of the announcement, Linkedin’ blog stated:

This collaboration includes CNBC integrating LinkedIn’s community and networking functionality into CNBC.com, enabling users to share and discuss news with their professional networks.

The collaboration has several benefits for the Linkedin community. They can access and share “breaking business news & content from CNBC that ranges from articles and blogs to financial data and video content”. The Linkedin community is made up of professionals who rely heavily on the latest data, particularly financial data.

Of general interest was the statement that:

Community-generated content from LinkedIn will also be broadcast on CNBC programs. These include survey results and on-air Q&A with CNBC anchors, reporters and guests.

This is a first for social networking communities. Actually taking the content and publishing it on a broader mainstream media outlet. It will be interesting to see how well it is taken up by the general community on Linkedin. I’ll keep you posted on any future developments.

Has social media lost its newness? Perhaps! Many would say about time too. According to an article on WebProNews, 58% of respondents in a recent survey did not recognize the term social networking.

Social networking as a fad had to come to an end at some time. Along the way many people have enjoyed using the services and met many new friends, however, as is becoming apparent, many sites are now becoming rigid in how you use those services.

If you accept that the largest demographic to use social media is in the under 35’s, finding a haven away from the rules of society has been one of the biggest attractions. As soon as society’s rules start to affect their online experience, they want nothing to do with that site. Social networking is not a young person’s terms. They don’t go online to network, they go online to meet friends and do whatever young people do.

They play games, they chat, they gossip, they even wind each other up. Start to put restrictions on these actions and it is no longer fun. It is more of home, school, work and society - the very fabric of our society that they are trying to escape. Of course they don’t recognize social networking. Social networking and social marketing are two business terms. They are certainly not in the everyday language of the majority of users.

Social media marketing will not be lost, at least, not in the short term. As the younger generation move on, the over 35’s are moving in. The old joke of a parent signing in to Facebook or Myspace to talk to their child is no longer a joke. It is real, and the kids don’t like the rules they are bringing with them!

Do you socialize much? By socialize I mean go to dinners or parties or similar events where a large group of people meet to socialize. Social networking can often be a very similar experience.

I can remember where, in past years, a doctor would never reveal his/her occupation. If they did, they would spend the evening doing on the spot diagnosis of sore backs and aching legs and so on. Social networking can be a similar experience. If you were to reveal that you were a doctor, you know that someone is going to pop one of those questions at you.

It’s the different characters you find at parties that I find interesting and I find that with social networking, those same characters exist. You know the types. There are the quiet ones who sit back and watch. They don’t offer much unless you ask them, yet if you engage them in conversation they can generally be quite entertaining. They are the mixed bag. You just never know what to expect.

On the other end of the spectrum are the life of the party type people. You can’t keep them quiet. They come as a mixed bag as well. You have those that have been there, done that, expert on everything, qualified at nothing. They are just as likely to push a business card into your hand while passing a drink. The other talkers include the gossipers. If you want to know what’s going on in the world, go and listen to them.

In the middle of all this are your every day individuals who try and do the right thing by circulating, chatting and listening to everyone before moving on to the next little group. I have oversimplified things a little, but you get the idea. Which group do you fit into? Social networking on line is no different.

On line, you have the braggart who can answer all your questions, always has an opinion, and is always trying to get you to visit their website. The gossiper can tell you what is going on everywhere. Who is not talking to who, which products are out of flavor (and which are ones are in). And you have the quiet ones who sit in the corner and watch everything. Pick their brains and you often find pearls of wisdom.

Recognizing some of these traits in the social networking world can be invaluable. Who do you ask for advice? Not the braggart - 90% of the time they are wrong. No, you seek out the quiet ones and get in line to ask them. They don’t need to promote themselves, their actions speak for themselves.

Likewise, if you want to quickly get a message out, go to the loud gossipers and let them in on the ’secret’. As soon as it gets that confidential tone, you know the whole network will have heard about in with ten minutes. I must say, social networking reminds me of being at a party - there are just no drinks to consume - often the best part of any party.

LinkedIn is a social networking site dedicated to professionals and industry leaders. It is also a little slow in updating its services in comparison to many other social networking sites. There is nothing wrong with that of course. It is often said there are leaders and there are followers: LinkedIn is neither - LinkedIn is, well LinkedIn. It meanders along its own road.

LinkedIn has had the groups feature for some time now, however it is only just about to open it up with easier access and more functionality. Starting from this Friday, groups will have a forum function (which can be disabled by the group administrators), the ability to send out regular digests of forum conversations, a group homepage and a searchable list of group members.

They don’t sound like big changes; however, there is little purpose to groups if you cannot meet in your own forum to discuss various issues. The daily or weekly digest is handy function particularly for those not able to log in on a regular basis.

Likewise, home pages are an important part of groups, particularly when you want to promote your group and encourage new membership. Being able to search the list of members has two benefits, first, you can find ‘friends’ and secondly, you check to see if friends are members, if they aren’t, you can invite them.

LinkedIn is a little slow in the modernization processes; however, they seem to ensure that each new function works well and are going to be a benefit to all participants.

One of the biggest problems with social networking, in fact with any online social activity, is anonymity. In reality, you have no idea who it is you are talking to.

This is not a new phenomenon. Since we have been able to communicate online, people have misrepresented themselves. Sometimes it is their gender, or their age, at other times it is their profession, or at least their position. Dating sites and on line chats are classic examples of misrepresentation through anonymity.

Recently, someone set themselves up as a representative of Exxon. Some may feel so what? However, if you can set yourself up to represent others, where does it stop? Online social networking in particular is capable of starting viral mis-information flows that can effectively destroy a business. All it takes is for someone to set themselves up a company representative and start revealing ‘information’ that is not only false, but very damaging as well.

The only come back for most businesses is to hope they can track the individual down and perhaps instigate legal proceedings. They could have the account of the individual closed on whichever site they started, but there is nothing to stop them moving on to the next site. In the mean time - the damage has been done.

While online privacy is a big issue and we all have the right to that privacy, online protection is also important. The time will come where every account holder will need to verify themselves prior to using their social networking or social media accounts. That is a lot of places with a lot of personal information. The more places you have personal information stored, the greater the risk of it escaping into the community.

Social sites may eventually be forced into taking action. It will only take one business to succeed in a lawsuit due to an attack by a fake representative. Perhaps the time has come to have an online ID card that can be used on every site. One set of personal data stored on one site will reduce the odds of personal information breaches.

Do you really know who you are talking too when your social networking? Do they really represent who they say they represent? If you’re a professional using social networking sites, then perhaps the time has come to verify who your contacts are!

WordPress users may be interested to learn that a new adaption of their favorite blog software, called buddypress, will be released later this year. Buddypress, formerly ChickSpeak, is set to turn any WordPress blog into a social networking site.

Using WordPress-MU (multi user), buddypress will enable various users to log in and create their own pages. The original ChickSpeak pages from WordPress.com describes the ‘home page’ as:

A member home page includes a users own personal profile front and center, their own personal “journal” as a feature of their home page, as well as private messaging functionality.

The original developers handed the code over to the WordPress community to complete and it seems that it is not far away.

In a little self promotion post, the code developers state:

It’s clear that the future is social. Connections are key. WordPress MU is a platform which has shown itself to be able to operate at Internet-scale and with BuddyPress we can make it friendlier. Someday, perhaps, the world will have a truly Free and Open Source alternative to the walled gardens and open-only-in-API platforms that currently dominate our social landscape.

The question is whether we have time for more social networking sites. Of course, for small niches this could be ideal. They will be able to set up their own ‘by invitation only’ private networks totally free of any of the influences of the large scale sites.

It will be interesting to see whether or not it actually gets of the ground and if it does, will it fly - or fly away?

I was invited to join another social networking site recently by a contact on yet another social networking site. I had a look at the site to see if it had anything to offer. I also looked at my contacts profile and list of contacts.

Recognize that name, and that name, oh yeah - I recognize them as well. It struck me that half the contacts in that profile where on the other social networking site. So I thought I would do a little research comparing the contacts on each of the social sites I frequent.

Around 15% of my contacts were common to all sites (we are talking six social networking/social media/social bookmarking sites). A further 27% were common on at least three sites and a whopping 52% were common on at least two sites. From that little survey I have only 6% of contacts that are unique - the rest are shared.

One of the difficulties you come across is repeated conversations. You see some comments and its, hang on, I have just finished discussing that - I want to move on. I want fresh news, fresh ideas, and fresh conversation. Not rehashes of the previous conversations.

There is of course a moral to this issue. Social networking is about networking. Sometimes you need to be brutal in who you allow in as contacts. I have seen in a handful of profiles statements to the effect that “if you are in my contacts on another social site, please do not be offended if I don’t accept your invitation here”. In other words, I want fresh faces here.

Some will be offended; however a new social networking site should be an introduction to a new group of individuals to network with. Have social networking contacts become blurred? Kinda reminds me of the old Venn diagrams from school - interlocking circles.