Brendans Blog

With the rise of social networking, more people are using it as a platform to obtain exposure as well as a way to broaden professional circle and social impact. With thousands of users visiting social networking sites like Facebook or MySpace on a daily basis, there are opportunities for you to break through to millions of people around the world. Anyone can gain access to your message, product or event all in a single moment.

While belonging to the social networking group does not mean that professionals or organizations will have an easier chance of finding jobs or platforms, it certainly helps promote causes and contacts that might be able to assist with a wide wealth of resources at some point in the future, depending on content, intent and even career paths. Since popular social network websites obtain millions visitors per month, companies, non-profits and charities are beginning to market to a variety of demographic users logging on to these sites.

Not all social network sites have thousands of users. Networks may also consist of smaller, specially designed sites created primarily to help users gain professional connections or contacts. For example, Linkedln is a professional networking site that promotes professional contacts, resumes and skills, as well as employment opportunities. Navigating through social networking sites such as this one allows users who are members to make professional connections.  Networking has become important in most professional arenas, since companies now commonly search through these professional sites in order to find potential employees.

Many social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace or Linkedln allow users to search the database of other members in order to find people with similar interests, skills or talents, all by simply using search tools designed by the site.  Some social networking websites even allow members to ask or answer career- related questions that help companies become more familiar with them or vice versa.  Since these social networks are free, utilizing them is a huge advantage when looking for   a job or seeking the perfect professional to join your organisation.

Not every social network has been successful.  Fiendster, one of the first large-scale social networking sites, failed to catch on and soon became overrun by other sites such as MySpace and Facebook.  While Facebook was primarily intended to attract college students, anyone was able to join the site in 2006.  With its user-friendly applications, Facebook now sees millions of new users joining each month.

While certain social networking websites have different features or directions, users are continually putting a more professional twist on content and goals. Whether social networking is used as a career enhancer. To attract attention to a non-profit or charity organization or just make a few new friends, it has certainly allowed for open communication around the world.  Finding old friends or staying connected to the ones users already have was a major desire during the beginning of social networking.  In the future, sites such as Facebook and MySpace are expected to cater to professionals and the relationships they can build, resulting in important aspects of business and organization tools.

Brendan Byrne (www.receptive.com.au) is an internet marketing consultant. Brendan runs workshops on how to manage your online business and effectively market yourself.

So, to accept or reject, this is the question.

I hope by now you have heard of linkedin.com it is a social network, a bit like the concept of My Space, without the videos and pictures. It is great for headhunters or if you are looking for staff. I am sure it is an untapped source of work, wealth and information, but I have not really spent enough time on it to be an authority. There seems to be a little flood this week of invitations flying around after The Sand day last Wednesday where there was a speaker who spoke about linkedin.

Anyway, I wanted to mention there was an interesting discussion today with some friends about whether one should accept any invitation, or just accept all. I thought about this later and have come to the conclusion that it is better to accept and extend your network than to reject for fear of being associated with an idiot. The argument was that if you accept someone into your network, you are automatically providing a reference to them and it could reflect badly on you.

It is absolutely crazy, I know lots of idiots, and most of our common friends know that they are idiots, and it does not reflect on me or them that we know them. The real power in life (and linkedIn) is a reference/recommendation. If you truly believe in someone, you will provide a good reference. But the idiots will get an ambiguious or no reference.

My logic is this; accept the linkedin reference, but consider carefully the reference/recommendation. 

Whomever gets the most connections wins!

have fun,

Brendan James Byrne
http://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanjamesbyrne