Network, Network, Network: Where do you network online?

I am curious to hear some other discuss how any sites they find they can make work.

Do you list on everyone you find?

Do you List on just a few?

Do you list on many yet contentrate efforts on a few?

Or do you have a different tactic?

I am on more social/business networking sites than I should be and I get invited to new ones every week.

I spend 90% of my virtual networking time on 4:

Motorcityconnect

Twitter

Facebook

Linkedin

Digg, stumbleupon, ecademy, rize, xing, konnects, yahoogroups, many different ning groups, flicr, plurk, myspace and classmates just to name a few.

Here's an interesting list  on Wikipedia. Shame, it seems to be missing one.

Interesting topic. Thanks for bringing it up.

Terry

Like Terry, I spend some time on a select few.  Personally, I think it would be difficult to get out and meet people in person if you were spending a ton of time online.  (Unless you're stuck inside). 

~Jenn

I spend my time on 3 social networking sites:

1.  LinkedIn

2  MotorCityConnect

3.  DetroiterOnline.com

There are more than 20,000 individuals and companies on LinkedIn alone that are in my line of work (translations and other language related services).  To be able to effectively utilize these connections, it takes a great deal of time, organization, and follow thru abilities. 

So I've learnt that in order to truly advance my business and increase the amount of business generated from social networking, it is better to concentrate on no more than 4 social networking applications.

Mostansar Virk

Being a recruiter, I have found Linked In to be one of the best online networking sites besides the ever popular MCC site.  I think choosing where to spend your time will depend on your industry, your purpose for networking, and how much time you have alloted for that activity.  I constantly get invited to other networking sites but have decided to devote my time to just a couple.  Each person should decide which sites are best for them to achieve their desired results.

I am new to internet networking.  I started with SocialMediaNetworkTraining.com which is an excellent site if you have a home business.  Doug Firebaugh started the site and had great training there for Facebook, Twitter and many other sites.

Besides SocialMediaNetworkTraining.com I use Facebook, Twitter and MotorCity Connect.  I think 4 sites to learn and become proficient and known on is a right amount for a beginner.

MCC and LinkedIn are my two primary sites. I am connected at Naymz and Plaxo Pulse as well, but hardly ever go there. 

I'm on way too many myself and I've had people ask me where I find the time to keep updated. Since I'm at a computer nearly 20 hours of every day that I'm not out as a photographer it is a constant round-robin of how to keep things updated.

Thankfully many sites are supporting RSS feeds. So on some sites like Myspace, Facebook, MyBlogLog, and those I build using Drupal I can pull content together fairly easily. While I'm on Twitter I haven't done much to extend my network there.

I've come to realize there are content creators, content publicizers, and content consumers (probably more categories too). My direction for growth is as a content creator, so I need more people watching and publicizing what is going on. What I'm doing is often not online. I'm out shooting events and planning events to be held. I'm working with talent to get them into shows and creating alliances as appropriate.

You can search for Fuzzytek and find I've got a profile on many sites. Mostly directed toward fashion talent/events and focused on Detroit. And when I say Detroit you'll find I mean downtown Detroit more than the suburbs. There are great things going on downtown and I love seeing people realizing how much it has changed in 5, 10, 15 years. Yes we loose people at a steady rate and we have a struggle to keep the vibrant ones. This is common for anything in transition. In the past month I've read notices from more than a few friends that moved away that they are returning.

Social networkng keeps those people that transition away and return in touch with developments.

The problem with the large numbers of social networking sites is that, eventually, the Internet community will narrow down the range to one for each social networking tier.  This is a problem, because, as a user of these sites, you don't want to get too wrapped up in one that won't make the grade when the narrowing finalizes.  It's also a bit of work to maintain these sites, so, who wants to get in the "maintain 5 networking profiles" game.  Not me.  And lastly, there is the credibility loss when you jump from networking site to networking site SPAMMING all of your existing network'ees to follow you around - very ugly stuff.

I guess the most disappointing aspect of this networking site insanity, is that folks are still out there trying "portal control" the user.  That's so anti-internet and a dysfunctional business model.  I don't understand why folks are still blowing wads of funding trying to make it happen.

The right thing to do is work towards collaborative connectivity - or federated communities - where social networking sites can interoperate and share information.  If social networking sites are going to continue to spawn, they should be very nitch focused and "connect" to and even share data with existing sites.  This is the best approach for the user.

So, as for my use:

Professional - Linked-In (hand's down best professional site)

Personal - None (FaceBook and MySpace are both terrible and unregulated)     

-Drew

Great question! I am listed everywhere (or nearly everywhere) just to protect my name and company name. My business is conducted globally and virtually so I may spend more time online than others. I sometimes take an SM break but I am most active on:

• Twitter. No explanation needed.


• My blog and my merry band of blogging buddies.


• LinkedIn. I find status updates, Q&A and the new discussions feature for groups to be very valuable.


• FriendFeed


• MCC

I use Facebook for feeds and the occasional check in but have not actively tried to grow a network there. I pop into Kwippy, Rejaw and Plurk periodically. I Stumble sites pretty regularly in support of my fellow bloggers. I like Social Median and Society for Word of Mouth Marketing.  I keep up with it all with Serph, HowSociable, Addictomatic and Google Alerts. Okay, so come to think of it maybe I have social media ADD!

I've created profiles on many social networking sites, but I only participate on a few. Linkedin and Plaxo are more online rolodexes than social networks for most people. I maintain a presence on both because my different clients prefer each. You already know about MCC. Twitter is a great outlet for micro-blogging and meeting early adopters. Facebook is more for fun and work, but it has a growing business presence.

Here's where you can find me and get connected:

• LinkedIn Profile (the professional standard for contact info) - http://www.linkedin.com/in/charliewollborg
  


• Plaxo (nipping at LinkedIn's heels) - http://CharlieWollborg.myplaxo.com
  


• Motor City Connect (the finest network in the known universe) - http://motorcityconnect.collectivex.com/network/show_profile/30495


• Twitter Stream (my random thoughts) - http://twitter.com/CharlieCurve


• Facebook Profile (not just for college students anymore) - http://www.facebook.com/people/Charlie_Wollborg/662940849

Linkedin and MotorCityConnect are the groups I use. I have been enjoying the "live", in person contact interaction that MCC provides. There is nothing like connecting face to face with local folks, sharing market conditions, helping one another, and having the opportunity to put our "ASK" in front of others. Keep up the great work Terry, Charlie and the rest of the MCC facilitators!

Robert