Poking and Liking: A guide to social networking

For the longest time, socializing online has always been a great way of keeping touch, discussing, chatting, making new friends, and even finding love. In its infancy, there were Bulletin Boards, dial up modems to a MS-DOS screen, you could chat, post comments and even have a go at simple role-playing games. You could be anyone, your very own superman, and nobody would be the wiser. Then came Internet Relay Chat, or IRC, a real-time live chat portal where users logged on and joined different channels which had individual themes. It brought like-minded people together everyone had his or her own online persona and nickname. When the web started looking prettier online forums were introduced. Very much like focus groups, forums had its own themes, forums are web based and are viewed with an internet browser. With its wide spectrum, users were able to sign on for memberships to these forums, there were outings organized where they could actually meet and discuss their interests, make new friends or just hang out.

In today's social networking world, we have the heavy weights of Facebook and Twitter, both are hybrids of blogging, forums and IRC. You are able to chat with your friends, join fan pages, create your own fan pages, and provide your own daily updates to your friends. So, how does one keep track and make sense of all this?

Joining the bandwagon of social networking now are employers. Employers are turning to  social networking sites such as Facebook to view the profiles of candidates. So unless you intend to see a demise in your career, and future aspirations, do take note of your regular posts, inappropriate photographs and other would be controversial information you have on your own page. I've listed below a few Dos and Don'ts. For more details click on the following link: CNN.com/living

1. Do update your profile regularly
2. Don't badmouth your current or previous employer
3. Do join groups...selectively
4. Don't mention your job search if you're still employed
5. Do go on the offensive
6. Don't forget others can see your friends

Social networking has been around for a long time, the groups we belong to, for example our own demographics, the sports we participate in, the jobs we hold are all part of our social network. So the way we communicate and interact with these groups can and should also apply to social networking on the internet. Hey, if you're new to all this you might want check out this site for some handy tips About.com/webtrends or The Digerati Life.


Image Source: The Digerati Life, Webdonuts.com
References: CNN.com/living, The Digerati Life, About.com/webtrends