This is the second blog post of four in my “Online networking” series; to find the other posts start here.
There’s a saying that you use most what brings you the most benefit; I use LinkedIn and Twitter more than any other online networking tool/website so I cover those two more than the others.
LinkedIn is a professional networking site and I use this site to promote my “IT contracting” self and network with past and potential colleagues and customers. I find LinkedIn is a great way of keeping in touch with people that I’ve worked with; people move on and it’s very easy to lose touch.
I accept connections from people on LinkedIn if I’ve worked with them or if they are directly connected to someone that I’m already connected with. To date I’ve not been connecting with employment agencies as I fear this could be abused but given that they are the people that I get my professional contract work from I think I should connect with them. So, I am starting to connect with agents that I know; ones that have placed me or ones that I have spoken to many times and have built up a relationship with, either they’ve got me an interview or helped me in some way.
Follow this link to connect with me on LinkedIn
When i first started with twitter i didn’t really get it as i couldn’t understand what I would gain from reading what people were doing and what they’d found on the Internet. I couldn’t get to grips with how I should use it and how I could provide good content for people that followed me. It wasn’t until I saw a you tube clip that explained how it should be used and that it’s not about having loads of followers but in fact it’s best to follow than be followed. I don’t care how many people follow me it’s about who I follow and how I can help them that matters to me.
I’ve learnt it’s not about catching every single tweet as in the real world you don’t hear everything that all your friends say only when you are with them and that’s the same on twitter.
I try to leave my tweets open ended so I invite a response, that way I get a conversation going.
I mainly use Tweetdeck and also use twitter for blackberry. I find the content of some of the tweets I receive inspire me to do certain things, ideas for blog posts, projects; it teases out the things I want to do that some times you forget or don’t think of when you sit down and think about what you want out of life. And I need this inspiration otherwise life becomes boring.
The difference with twitter is how you can connect with people. LinkedIn and Facebook require the person you are connecting with to confirm the connection but with twitter its more open in that you just follow. There is a setting where you can protect your tweets which some companies might use if they want to protect the information in their tweets but in my experience not many people do this.
Some people don’t get twitter and I think the reason for that is they don’t understand what they can gain or don’t see the benefit to them, and that’s fine for them. I find it a great way of keeping my ear to the ground on a variety of topics and because the information comes in short snip-its the people generating the tweets don’t have to spend time thinking about what they are publishing, they can just tweet.
Follow this link to Follow me on Twitter
Facebook is a Social Networking site. I don’t use Facebook that much and mainly use it to catch those that don’t have a LinkedIn account. In a similar way to how I use LinkedIn, I will only accept connections from people I know. If you have a
LinkedIn account please connect with me on there by following this link, otherwise go ahead and Friend me on Facebook
Dailymile
I blogged about DailyMile a while ago and you can find the post here.
I still use DailyMile to record my workouts and find it a great source of encouragement and a way to spur others on helping them achieve their goals. You can connect with me on DailyMile by going here.
Blogging
I read and comment on lots of blogs and I find it a good way to start a conversation with the blog owners. I use FeedDemon to read these blogs by subscribing to the RSS feed of a blog.
Which online networking sites/tools do you use? and which function of the tool/site serves you best? please leave a comment.
The next post in this series is Do’s and Don’s, other posts in this series;
Online Networking: Introduction
Online Networking: Do’s and Don’ts
Online Networking: Summary
