Social Networking

Is it fun or exhausting to be involved in so many online social networking groups? Depends on the day I guess. Some are great for staying up to date and in contact with your family and friends. Others are beneficial for growing your business. In any event their is something out there for everyone if you just take a moment to search.....I did this myself tonight and was shocked at just how many there were! From making friends, dating, family, gay, business, athletic, there are more than I can count. The most popular sites I found in order of registered users are favorites all around the world. Myspace. Facebook. Windows Live Spaces. Habbo. Friendster. Just to name the top five.

My personal favorites are Facebook and Twitter. Although I have signed up for a few additional just always seem to go back to those two for now. Working on LinkedIn as another source of business connections.

In the commercial sense these are grand marketing tools for networking with other companies, continued exposure, and page rank. From the SEO (search engine optimization) standpoint the more back links you have from higher page ranks the higher page rank you yourself will receive. Google looks at links to your website as votes for your URL.

Socially speaking staying in contact with friends I lost touch with that I truly wanted to continuing knowing has been the most fun to reunite with again years later. Keeping us up to date with family who may not live close. Being able to share pictures and stories. All are benefits of these social sites. Let's face it the online world makes it easier for us. Does that mean we lack the personal touch most of us had prior or does this allow us to be more personal in a different way? I see it as a way to be however you desire on any given day.

Are some people annoyed about online networking asking the questions: Where are face to face conversations or calling someone on the phone? How about snail mail? Just saying "snail mail" sounds so ancient! In today's world we walk around with mini computers that can literally carry our most personal items PDA's, Blackberry's, and the wonderful how-did-we-live-without-it iPhone. Ahhh yes, the iPhone perfect to hold everything you have on your home computer and small enough to fit in your pocket. Don't drop it or lose it because that would be devastating!

Basically the internet gives us endless opportunities to be as *social* as we want, network as much as we can, and gather information from various ports all over the world.

What social networks do you belong to?