I’m in Austin, at the Texas AFP conference, and on one of the panel discussions, David Almacy, former White House Internet Director and current V.P. of Digital Strategies at Waggener Edstrom Worldwide, spoke about social networking and why it’s important. In the process of explaining social networking at its impact on the web, he provided list of the top ten social networks as of May of 2008. The list was compiled by Nielson, and includes only purely “social” networks, not social bookmarking sites (like reddit, del.icio.us, or Stumbleupon) nor social news sites (like Digg, R-igg, GOPHub, or Propeller):
Social networking is a good way to promote your online presence, including your blog. Also, I’ve found that having a profile on a top social network has helped me shoot right to the top of the search engine results under my name, the name of my various blogs, and best of all, in some cases, the subject matter of my blogs.
Obviously, we don’t have time to be involved in all of these networks, especially if we want to do anything else. So, how do we decide which ones to choose? One thing to look at is which ones are growing? LinkedIN, Imeem, Facebook, and Reunion have the largest growth rates over the last year, according to Nielson. I would prefer to concentrate on one or more of these, rather than ones that have had single-digit or negative growth rates recently.
Also, the content matter of your blog and your online activity might dictate which social networks will work best for you. For example, Imeem focuses on music and online technology surrounding music, and Penguin is for children, so these may not be the best places to network if your blogging about politics, or sports.
Finally, I would suggest finding a network that is forward-thinking in terms of moving into Web 3.0.. I have said many times that if a person only has time to learn one social networking site, it should be Facebook, because of its ability to interact with the other social networking sites, and the ability to manage so much of your online activity from one place, including blog promotion, communication, and growing a network.
Whichever one you choose, know that in order for the network to work for you, you’ll have to spend some time there, and interact with other users for other reasons that simply promoting yourself and your blog online. So, be sure it’s one that you will enjoy, and one that will accomplish what you need it to.
Also see: Four Easy Ways to Promote your Blog on Facebook
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There were only two new websites added to About.com’s list of Top 10 employment sites this year, Linkedin.com and another site called Realmatch.com. Lots of news ways to find jobs nowadays.
Top 10 Employment site list here:
http://jobsearch.about.com/od/joblistings/tp/jobbanks.htm
Hi Jenn!
Wouldn’t it also be important to factor in the size of the social network? - like a stellar growth factor might not mean much if the network’s impact is very small (in terms of the viewers reached).
Rhyss last blog post..Now You Can Have a Top Money Making Blog
Hello, Rhys, and yes, that’s a good point. All of the sites listed on this top-ten list are pretty large, so they would be worth considering. However, if a start-up only has 150 users, there is most likely a limit to how many people you’re going to meet there. With the exception of very highly-defined niche markets, I would not suggest making any of the new start-ups a main social networking site. It’s fine to check them out, and hang around there if you have time, to see if they’re going to grow and become the next MySpace or Facebook, but be sure to engage the larger social networking sites, as well.
Good question and comments, Rhys, thanks.
Wow! You’re everywhere. Good article.