In recent times, whether you read a newspaper or technical magazine or surf the web you would have often run into the buzz word Social Networking. In spite of all these hipes, a simplified procedure to be part of online social networking community for a newcomer is rare thing to find. No worries, we will help you to enter the new world of ”social networking" all by yourself with ease. You don’t need to be a wizard or a geek to enter social networking world. But you should have the drive, perseverance and passion to learn new developments and be part of winning team.
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| Social Networking Options |
First and foremost you need to be clear about objective / purpose. Do you wish to build a network of business professionals or is it for self-promotion. Each individual will have their own objective. Objectives range from finding new friendships or organizing a group to fight for a social cause or to providing free information for tourists or promoting new business ventures. Whatever it is, objectives need to be defined clearly. Once you are have an objectives, explore and select a social networking site which matches your interest. There are site built for general purpose or trailed ones for special objectives. Choose the one which matches your objectives. Do your research well. Here are few pointers.
| Objectives | Popular Sites |
|---|---|
| Encourages to connect share with friends and family and as well as discover new people through friends of friends | Facebook, Orkut and MySpace |
| Targets professionals for business networking | Linkedin, XING |
| Specializes in Microblogging service | Twitter |
| Helps in sharing your thoughts with the world | Google Blogger, Wordpress |
| Social Bookmarking | Delicious, StumbleUpon |
| Helps to share your favorite photos and videos to the world | Flickr, Picasa Web Albums, YouTube |
Next step to be part of online social networking community is signing up with the chosen group. Most of the site has simple sign-up procedure which is self explanatory. Generally site collects basic personal information about you. It allows you to build a profile yourself so that others will know about you. At this stage it also allows you to establish contacts with like minded persons or friends. See the sidebar for creating a twitter account.
| Twitter Sign-up Process |
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| 1. Visit Twitter to Sign up Visit twitter at http://twitter.com/ and click on the Sign up link. |
| 2. Provide Basic Information Provide basic information like your name, user id, password and email id and click Create Account. |
| 3. Verify by Key-in CAPTCHA code As part of verification check, Twitter uses the CAPTCHA to verify if you are indeed human. |
| 4. Configure Account Once the account is created, complete the process by configuring few essential things - Identify the topic you are interested in - Find and add you friends, who are also using Gmail, Yahoo and Linkedin to this account - Search and find friends or organization you are interested in. |
| 5. Start Tweeting Instantly post entries of 140 characters or less, known as tweets to share what you’re doing with the world |
Now comes the crucial part, which is a lifelong actively (or of course till you cancel your membership). Build and maintain your social network by being active by frequent blog posting, tweeting often, sharing interesting events with your friends, connecting with your friends friend, following people and sharing the photos, news or the links with others.
Finally a word of caution
- Do not try every social networking site. Be selective.
- Do not get addicted to the virtual world and stop, face to face.
Hope you are now equipped with enough information to jump start your social networking life. Start.
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