Get Started with Social Media

Reconnect with former colleagues, research a company if you’re job searching, introduce yourself to a potential client through your network of connections, or list openings. Through LinkedIn you can have a powerful network if you grow and maintain your contact list by only inviting business associates you know and trust.

By connecting to a network organized by region, workplace, school, or city you can see what your friends are doing through a news feed, or you can post jobs or used furniture on its Marketplace platform. Facebook also connects businesses with each other through photos, blogs, and events.

Create your own social network with everyone who lives in a certain area code, with folks who only use open source software or with any type of idea at all. Ning is extremely user friendly because of its customized templates allowing members to post photos, invite colleagues, announce events, or start discussion groups.

Plaxo automatically updates your contact information through its Outlook, Mozilla, and Mac plug-ins so you can synchronize contacts on your desktop, laptop, PDA, and cell phone. You can also share review and websites, plus the calendar feature synchronizes with Yahoo, Gmail, and Outlook.

Bebo users share music, video, books and more from major media sites as well as independent producers. This is what makes Bebo unique from the other social networking sites. You’ll also find more security (your profile defaults to private), plus a Skype and mobile phone functionality.

Connect with your kindergarten or middle school classmates to build your business network. There are two membership options: basic and premium. A basic membership will let you join forums or search for reunions, and a premium membership will enable you to e-mail other classmates directly.

With Friendster you can find old friends and meet new ones by connecting through interests, schools, work, and groups. You can also connect to Friendster via your mobile phone. If your business impacts Generation Y or younger, you need to be familiar with this site to know your audience.

Users organize their photos and videos via tags so searchers can find them easily through place names. Many use Flickr as their primary photo/video storage site. By setting their privacy controls, businesses can post photos of their events and functions just to their employees or to the general public.

Digg lets you share your articles, blogs, and websites, with users voting for their favorites. The top stories are featured on Digg’s homepage. If your article is posted on Digg as well as your website, you can generate traffic to your website through the Digg link.

If they are subscribed to your profile, Twitter lets your associates, employees, and customers know what you’re doing in real time via texting. Organizations like Cisco Systems, Whole Foods, and NASA use Twitter for product updates, customer service, and launch news.