Social network service

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A social network service focuses on building and reflecting of social networks or social relations among people, e.g., who share interests and/or activities. A social network service essentially consists of a representation of each user (often a profile), his/her social links, and a variety of additional services. Most social network services are web based services are sometimes considered as a social network service in a broader sense, social network service usually means an individual-centered service whereas and provide means for users to interact over the internet, such as e-mail and instant messaging. Although online communityonline community services are group-centered. Social networking sites allow users share ideas, activities, events, and interests within their individual networks.

The main types of social networking services are those which contain category places (such as former school-year or classmates), means to connect with friends (usually with self-description pages) and a recommendation system linked to trust. Popular methods now combine many of these, with Facebook, Bebo and Twitter widely used worldwide; MySpace and LinkedIn being the most widely used in North America; Nexopia (mostly in Canada); Bebo, Hi5, StudiVZ (mostly in Germany), iWiW (mostly in Hungary), Tuenti (mostly in Spain), Decayenne, Tagged, XING, Badoo and Skyrock in parts of Europe; Orkut and Hi5 in South America and Central America; and Friendster, Mixi, Multiply, Orkut, Wretch, renren and Cyworld in Asia and the Pacific Islands and Orkut and Facebook in India.

There have been some attempts to standardize these services to avoid the need to duplicate entries of friends and interests (see the FOAF standard and the Open Source Initiative), but this has led to some concerns about privacy.

Although some of the largest social networks were founded on the notion of digitizing real world connections, many other networks as seen in the List of social networking websites focus on categories from books and music to non-profit business to motherhood as ways to provide both services and community to individuals with shared interests.

History

The notion that individual computers linked electronically could form the basis of computer-mediated social interaction and networking was suggested early on . There were many early efforts to support social networks via computer-mediated communication, including Usenet, ARPANET, LISTSERV, bulletin board services (BBS) and EIES: Murray Turoff's server-based Electronic Information Exchange Service (Turoff and Hiltz, 1978, 1993). The Information Routing Group developed a schema about how the proto-Internet might support this.

Early social networking websites started in the form of generalized online communities such as The WELL (1985), Theglobe.com (1994)^[11], Geocities (1994) and Tripod.com (1995). These early communities focused on bringing people together to interact with each other through chat rooms, and share personal information and ideas around any topics via personal homepage publishing tools which was a precursor to the blogging phenomenon. Some communities took a different approach by simply having people link to each other via email addresses. These sites included Classmates.com (1995), focusing on ties with former school mates, and SixDegrees.com (1997), focusing on indirect ties. User profiles could be created, messages sent to users held on a “friends list” and other members could be sought out who had similar interests to yours in their profiles (Boyd & Ellison 2007, p. 3). Whilst these features had existed in some form before SixDegrees.com came about, this would be the first time these functions were available in one package. Despite these new developments (that would later catch on and become immensely popular), the website simply wasn’t profitable and eventually shut down (Boyd & Ellison 2007, p. 3). It was even described by the website’s owner as "simply ahead of its time." One such model of social networking that came about in 1999 was trust-based, such as that developed by Epinions.com. Innovations included not only showing who is "friends" with whom, but giving users more control over content and connectivity. Between 2002 and 2004, three social networking sites emerged as the most popular form of these sites in the world, causing such sites to become part of mainstream users globally. First there was Friendster in 2002 (which Google tried to acquire in 2003), then MySpace and LinkedIn a year later, and finally, Bebo. By 2005, MySpace, emergent as the biggest of them all, was reportedly getting more page views than Google. 2004 saw the emergence of Facebook, a competitor, also rapidly growing in size.^[13] In 2005, Facebook opened up to the non US college community, and together with allowing externally-developed add-on applications, and some applications enabled the graphing of a user's own social network - thus linking social networks and social networking, became the largest and fastest growing site in the world, not limited by particular geographical followings.

Social networking began to flourish as a component of business internet strategy at around March 2005 when Yahoo launched Yahoo! 360°. In July 2005 News Corporation bought MySpace, followed by ITV (UK) buying Friends Reunited in December 2005.^[15][16] Various social networking sites have sprung up catering to different languages and countries. It is estimated that combined there are now over 200 social networking sites using these existing and emerging social networking models,^[17] without counting the niche social networks (also referred to as vertical social networks) made possible by services such as Ning.^[18] Twitter, launched in 2006, has as recently as 2009 eclipsed many other social network services and—although lacking in some of what were considered the essential aspects of a SNS—has allowed add-on services to connect and supply these services via its public API.

 Social impacts

An increasing number of academic commentators are becoming interested in studying Facebook and other social networking tools. Social science researchers have begun to investigate what the impact of this might be on society. Typical articles have investigated issues such as Identity (Boyd 2006), Privacy, E-learning  (Mazer, Murphy & Simonds 2007), Social capital (Ellison, Steinfield & Lampe 2007) and Teenage use.

A special issue of the Journal for Computer-Mediated Communications was dedicated to studies of social network sites. Included in this issue is an introduction to social network sites (Boyd & Ellison 2007, p. 3).

A 2008 book published by Forrester Research, Inc. titled Groundswell builds on a 2006 Forrester Report about social computing and used the term "groundswell" to refer to "a spontaneous movement of people using online tools to connect, take charge of their own experience, and get what they need—information, support, ideas, products, and bargaining power—from each other."

Social good

Several websites are beginning to tap into the power of the social networking model for social good. Such models provide a means for connecting otherwise fragmented industries and small organizations without the resources to reach a broader audience with interested users.  Examples include Getinvolved.ca, SixDegrees.org, TakingITGlobal, Care2, Idealist.org, WiserEarth, OneWorldTV, FreeRepublic, OneClimate, Causes and Network for Good. The charity badge is often used within the above context.

 Typical structure

 Basics

In general, social networking services allow users to create a profile for themselves, and can be broken down into two broad categories: internal social networking (ISN); and external social networking (ESN) sites such as MySpace, Facebook, Twitter and Bebo. Both types can increase the feeling of community among people. An ISN is a closed/private community that consists of a group of people within a company, association, society, education provider and organization or even an "invite only" group created by a user in an ESN. An ESN is open/public and available to all web users to communicate and are designed to attract advertisers. ESN's can be smaller specialised communities (i.e. linked by a single common interest eg TheSocialGolfer, ACountryLife.Com, Great Cooks Community) or they can be large generic social networking sites (eg MySpace, Facebook etc).

However, whether specialized or generic there is commonality across the general approach of social networking sites. Users can upload a picture of themselves, create their 'profile' and can often be "friends" with other users. In most social networking services, both users must confirm that they are friends before they are linked. For example, if Alice lists Bob as a friend, then Bob would have to approve Alice's friend request before they are listed as friends. Some social networking sites have a "favorites" feature that does not need approval from the other user. Social networks usually have privacy controls that allows the user to choose who can view their profile or contact them, etc.

Social networking sites typically have a section dedicated to comments by friends. On Friendster, this section is called "Testimonials". On Facebook, this section is called "The Wall". In the beginning, this was a feature that encouraged people to write messages about the person in the profile. But over time, people started writing creative testimonials back, creating a form of conversation.

Some social networking sites are created for the benefits of others, such as parents social networking site "Gurgle". This website is for parents to talk about pregnancy, birth and bringing up children.

Several social networks in Asian markets such as India, China, Japan and Korea have reached not only a high usage but also a high level of profitability. Services such as QQ (China), Mixi (Japan), Cyworld (Korea) or the mobile-focused service Mobile Game Town by the company DeNA in Japan (which has over 10 million users) are all profitable, setting them apart from their western counterparts.

 Additional features

Some social networks have additional features, such as the ability to create groups that share common interests or affiliations, upload or stream live videos, and hold discussions in forums. Geosocial networking co-opts internet mapping services to organize user participation around geographic features and their attributes.

There is also a trend for more interoperability between social networks led by technologies such as OpenID and OpenSocial.

Lately, mobile social networking has become popular. In most mobile communities, mobile phone users can now create their own profiles, make friends, participate in chat rooms, create chat rooms, hold private conversations, share photos and videos, and share blogs by using their mobile phone. Mobile phone users are basically open to every option that someone sitting on the computer has. Some companies provide wireless services which allow their customers to build their own mobile community and brand it, but one of the most popular wireless services for social networking in North America is Facebook Mobile. Other companies provide new innovative features which extend the social networking experience into the real world.

Another social networking feature in a professional aspect is Linkedin.com. This social network allows professionals to exchange information, opportunities, and ideas. Professionals are able to stay informed with new knowledge about their field.

 Emerging trends in social networks

As the increase in popularity of social networking is on a constant rise, new uses for the technology are constantly being observed.

A new trend in 2010 is the use of social networking to create art and music. Artist and musicians are able to get instant feedback from fans. Also, social networks are being used by groups like Social Networking Art to collectively create art.

At the forefront of emerging trends in social networking sites is the concept of "real time" and "location based." Real time allows users to contribute content, which is then broadcasted as it is being uploaded - the concept is similar to live television broadcasts. Twitter set the trend for "real time" services, where users can broadcast to the world what they are doing, or what is on their minds within a 140 character limit. Facebook followed suit with their "Live Feed" where users' activities are streamed as soon as it happens. While Twitter focuses on words, Clixtr, another real time service, focuses on group photo sharing where users can update their photo streams with photos while at an event. Friends and nearby users can contribute their own photos and comments to that event stream, thus contributing to the "real time" aspect of broadcasting photos and comments as it is being uploaded. In the location based social networking space, Foursquare gained popularity as it allowed for users to "check-in" to places that they are frequenting at that moment. Gowalla is another such service which functions in much the same way that Foursquare does, leveraging the GPS in phones to create a location based user experience. Clixtr, though in the real time space, is also a location based social networking site since events created by users are automatically geotagged, and users can view events occurring nearby through the Clixtr iPhone app. Recently, Yelp announced its entrance into the location based social networking space through check-ins with their mobile app; whether or not this becomes detrimental to Foursquare or Gowalla is yet to be seen as it is still considered a new space in the internet technology industry.

One popular use for this new technology is social networking between businesses. Companies have found that social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter are great ways to build their brand image. According to Jody Nimetz, author of Marketing Jive^[30], there are five major uses for businesses and social media: to create brand awareness, as an online reputation management tool, for recruiting, to learn about new technologies and competitors, and as a lead gen tool to intercept potential prospects. These companies are able to drive traffic to their own online sites while encouraging their consumers and clients to have discussions on how to improve or change products or services.

One other use that is being discussed is the use of Social Networks in the Science communities. Julia Porter Liebeskind et al. have published a study on how New Biotechnology Firms are using social networking sites to share exchanges in scientific knowledge.They state in their study that by sharing information and knowledge with one another, they are able "increase both their learning and their flexibility in ways that would not be possible within a self-contained hierarchical organization." Social networking is allowing scientific groups to expand their knowledge base and share ideas, and without these new means of communicating their theories might become "isolated and irrelevant".

Social networks are also being used by teachers and students as a communication tool. Because many students are already using a wide-range of social networking sites, teachers have begun to familiarize themselves with this trend and are now using it to their advantage. Teachers and professors are doing everything from creating chat-room forums and groups to extend classroom discussion to posting assignments, tests and quizzes, to assisting with homework outside of the classroom setting. Social networks are also being used to foster teacher-parent communication. These sites make it possible and more convenient for parents to ask questions and voice concerns without having to meet face-to-face.

A final rise in social network use is being driven by college students using the services to network with professionals for internship and job opportunities. Many studies have been done on the effectiveness of networking online in a college setting, and one notable one is by Phipps Arabie and Yoram Wind published in Advances in Social Network Analysis.

 Social network hosting service

A social network hosting service is a web hosting service that specifically hosts the user creation of web-based social networking services, alongside related applications. Such services are also known as vertical social networks due to the creation of SNSes which cater to specific user interests and niches; like larger, interest-agnostic SNSes, such niche networking services may also possess the ability to create increasingly-niche groups of users.

Business model

Few social networks currently charge money for membership. In part, this may be because social networking is a relatively new service, and the value of using them has not been firmly established in customers' minds.^{[citation needed]} Companies such as MySpace and Facebook sell online advertising on their site. Hence, they are seeking large memberships, and charging for membership would be counterproductive.^[33] Some believe that the deeper information that the sites have on each user will allow much better targeted advertising than any other site can currently provide.

Social networks operate under an autonomous business model, in which a social network's members serve dual roles as both the suppliers and the consumers of content. This is in contrast to a traditional business model, where the suppliers and consumers are distinct agents. Revenue is typically gained in the autonomous business model via advertisements, but subscription-based revenue is possible when membership and content levels are sufficiently high.

  Issues

   Privacy

On large social networking services, there have been growing concerns about users giving out too much personal information and the threat of sexual predators. Users of these services also need to be aware of data theft or viruses. However, large services, such as MySpace and Netlog, often work with law enforcement to try to prevent such incidents.^{[citation needed]}

In addition, there is a perceived privacy threat in relation to placing too much personal information in the hands of large corporations or governmental bodies, allowing a profile to be produced on an individual's behavior on which decisions, detrimental to an individual, may be taken.

Furthermore, there is an issue over the control of data—information that was altered or removed by the user may in fact be retained and/or passed to 3rd parties. This danger was highlighted when the controversial social networking site Quechup harvested e-mail addresses from users' e-mail accounts for use in a spamming operation.

In medical and scientific research, asking subjects for information about their behaviors is normally strictly scrutinized by institutional review boards, for example, to ensure that adolescents and their parents have informed consent. It is not clear whether the same rules apply to researchers who collect data from social networking sites. These sites often contain a great deal of data that is hard to obtain via traditional means. Even though the data are public, republishing it in a research paper might be considered invasion of privacy.

Privacy on Facebook is undermined by three principal factors: users disclose too much, Facebook does not take adequate steps to protect user privacy, and third parties are actively seeking out end-user information using Facebook. Every day teens go on social networking sites and reveal their most inner thoughts for the whole world to see. Information such as street address, phone number, Instant Messaging name are disclosed to an unknown population in cyberspace. What's more, the creation of a Facebook, Myspace, Twitter etc. account is a fairly easy process to do and no identification is required, which can lead to identity theft or impersonation. "For the Net generation, social networking sites have become the preferred forum for social interactions, from posturing and role playing to simply sounding off. However, because such forums are relatively easy to access, posted content can be reviewed by anyone with an interest in the users' personal information". Privacy on the net is a rare thing these days and ultimately it is left to the user to be responsible and improve his or her privacy online.

Following plans by the UK government to monitor traffic on social networks schemes similar to E-mail jamming have been proposed for networks such as Twitter and Facebook. These would involve "friending" and "following" large numbers of random people to thwart attempts at network analysis.

  Notifications on websites

There has been a trend for social networking sites to send out only 'positive' notifications to users. For example sites such as Bebo, Facebook, and Myspace will not send notifications to users when they are removed from a person's friends list. Similarly Bebo will send out a notification if a user is moved to the top of another user's friends list but no notification is sent if they are moved down the list.

This allows users to purge undesirables from their list extremely easily and often without confrontation since a user will rarely notice if one person disappears from their friends list. It also enforces the general positive atmosphere of the website without drawing attention to unpleasant happenings such as friends falling out, rejection and failed relationships.

  Access to information

Many social networking services, such as Facebook, provide the user with a choice of who can view their profile. This prevents unauthorized user(s) from accessing their information. Parents have become a big problem to teens who want to avoid their parents to access their MySpace or Facebook accounts. By choosing to make their profile private, teens are able to select who can see their page and this prevents unwanted parents from lurking. This will also mean that only people who are added as "friends" will be able to view the profile. Teens are constantly trying to create a structural barrier between their private life and their parents.

To edit information on a certain social networking service account, the social networking sites require you to login or provide an access code. This prevents unauthorized user(s) from adding, changing, or removing personal information, pictures, and/or other data.

  Potential for misuse

The relative freedom afforded by social networking services has caused concern regarding the potential of its misuse by individual patrons. In October 2006, a fake Myspace profile created in the name of Josh Evans by Lori Janine Drew led to the suicide of Megan Meier.^[44] The event incited global concern regarding the use of social networking services for bullying purposes.

In July 2008, a Briton, Grant Raphael, was ordered to pay a total of GBP £22,000 (about USD $44,000) for libel and breach of privacy. Raphael had posted a fake page on Facebook purporting to be that of a former schoolfriend Matthew Firsht, with whom Raphael had fallen out in 2000. The page falsely claimed that Firsht was homosexual and that he was dishonest.

At the same time, genuine use of social networking services has been treated with suspicion on the ground of the services' misuse. In September 2008, the profile of Australian Facebook user Elmo Keep was banned by the site's administrators on the grounds that it violated the site's terms of use. Keep is one of several users of Facebook who were banned from the site on the presumption that their names aren't real, as they bear resemblance the names of characters like Sesame Street's Elmo.

 Risk for child safety

Citizens and governments have been concerned by a misuse by child and teenagers of social network services, particularly in relation to online sexual predators. A certain number of actions have been engaged by governments to better understand the problem and find some solutions.^[specify] A 2008 panel concluded that technological fixes such as age verification and scans are relatively ineffective means of apprehending online predators.

 Trolling

A common misuse of social networking sites such as Facebook is that it is occasionally used to emotionally abuse individuals. Such actions are often referred to as trolling. It is not rare for confrontations in the real world to be translated online. Online bullying (aka "Cyber-bullying") is a relatively common occurrence and it can often result in emotional trauma for the victim. Danah Boyd, a researcher of social networks quotes a teenager in her article, Why Youth (Heart) Social Network Sites. The teenager expresses frustration towards networking sites like MySpace because it causes drama and too much emotional stress.^[47] There are not many limitations as to what individuals can post when online. Inherently individuals are given the power to post offensive remarks or pictures that could potentially cause a great amount of emotional pain for another individual.

 Interpersonal communication

Interpersonal communication has been a growing issue as more and more people have turned to social networking as a means of communication."Benniger (1987) describes how mass media has gradually replaced interpersonal communication as a socializing force. Further, social networking sites have become popular sites for youth culture to explore themselves, relationships, and share cultural artifacts"A Privacy Paradox Many teens and social networking users may be harming their interpersonal communication by using sites such as Facebook and Myspace.

Investigations

Social network services are increasingly being used in legal and criminal investigations. Information posted on sites such as MySpace and Facebook has been used by police (forensic profiling), probation, and university officials to prosecute users of said sites. In some situations, content posted on MySpace has been used in court.

Facebook is increasingly being used by school administrations and law enforcement agencies as a source of evidence against student users. The site, the number one online destination for college students, allows users to create profile pages with personal details. These pages can be viewed by other registered users from the same school which often include resident assistants and campus police who have signed-up for the service. One UK police force has sifted pictures from Facebook and arrested some people who had been photographed in a public place holding a weapon such as a knife (having a weapon in a public place is illegal). 

 Application domains

 Government applications

Social networking is more recently being used by various government agencies. Social networking tools serve as a quick and easy way for the government to get the opinion of the public and to keep the public updated on their activity. The Centers for Disease Control demonstrated the importance of vaccinations on the popular children's site Whyville and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has a virtual island on Second Life where people can explore underground caves or explore the effects of global warming. Similarly, NASA has taken advantage of a few social networking tools, including Twitter and Flickr. They are using these tools to aid the Review of U.S. Human Space Flight Plans Committee, whose goal it is to ensure that the nation is on a vigorous and sustainable path to achieving its boldest aspirations in space.

 Business applications

The use of social network services in an enterprise context presents the potential of having a major impact on the world of business and work (Fraser & Dutta 2008).

Social networks connect people at low cost; this can be beneficial for entrepreneurs and small businesses looking to expand their contact bases. These networks often act as a customer relationship management tool for companies selling products and services. Companies can also use social networks for advertising in the form of banners and text ads. Since businesses operate globally, social networks can make it easier to keep in touch with contacts around the world.

One example of social networking being used for business purposes is LinkedIn.com, which aims to interconnect professionals. LinkedIn has over 40 million users in over 200 countries.^[53]

Another is the use of physical spaces available to members of a social network such as Hub Culture, an invitation only social network for entrepreneurs, and other business influentials, with Pavilions in major cities such as London, UK. Having a physical presence allows members to network in the real world, as well as the virtual, adding extra business value.

Applications for social networking sites have extended toward businesses and brands are creating their own, high functioning sites, a sector known as brand networking. It is the idea a brand can build its consumer relationship by connecting their consumers to the brand image on a platform that provides them relative content, elements of participation, and a ranking or score system. Brand networking is a new way to capitalize on social trends as a marketing tool.

 Dating applications

see also: Online dating service

Many social networks provide an online environment for people to communicate and exchange personal information for dating purposes. Intentions can vary from looking for a one time date, short-term relationships, and long-term relationships.

Most of these social networks, just like online dating services, require users to give out certain pieces of information. This usually includes a user's age, gender, location, interests, and perhaps a picture. Releasing very personal information is usually discouraged for safety reasons. This allows other users to search or be searched by some sort of criteria, but at the same time people can maintain a degree of anonymity similar to most online dating services. Online dating sites are similar to social networks in the sense that users create profiles to meet and communicate with others, but their activities on such sites are for the sole purpose of finding a person of interest to date. Social networks do not necessarily have to be for dating; many users simply use it for keeping in touch with friends, and colleagues.

However, an important difference between social networks and online dating services is the fact that online dating sites usually require a fee, where social networks are free. This difference is one of the reasons the online dating industry is seeing a massive decrease in revenue due to many users opting to use social networking services instead. Many popular online dating services such as Match.com, Yahoo Personals, and eHarmony.com are seeing a decrease in users, where social networks like MySpace and Facebook are experiencing an increase in users.

The number of internet users in the U.S. that visit online dating sites has fallen from a peak of 21% in 2003 to 10% in 2006. Whether its the cost of the services, the variety of users with different intentions, or any other reason, it is undeniable that social networking sites are quickly becoming the new way to find dates online.

   Educational applications

see also: Socio-Academic Networks

The National School Boards Association reports that almost 60 percent of students who use social networking talk about education topics online and, surprisingly, more than 50 percent talk specifically about schoolwork. Yet the vast majority of school districts have stringent rules against nearly all forms of social networking during the school day — even though students and parents report few problem behaviors online.

Social networks focused on supporting relationships between teachers and between teachers and their students are now used for learning, educator professional development, and content sharing. Ning for teachers, Learn Central, TeachStreet and other sites are being built to foster relationships that include educational blogs, eportfolios, formal and ad hoc communities, as well as communication such as chats, discussion threads, and synchronous forums. These sites also have content sharing and rating features.

  Medical applications

Social networks are beginning to be adopted by healthcare professionals as a means to manage institutional knowledge, disseminate peer to peer knowledge and to highlight individual physicians and institutions. The advantage of using a dedicated medical social networking site is that all the members are screened against the state licensing board list of practitioners.

The role of social networks is especially of interest to pharmaceutical companies who spend approximately "32 percent of their marketing dollars" attempting to influence the opinion leaders of social networks.

A new trend is emerging with social networks created to help its members with various physical and mental ailments. For people suffering from life altering diseases, PatientsLikeMe offers its members the chance to connect with others dealing with similar issues and research patient data related to their condition. For alcoholics and addicts, SoberCircle gives people in recovery the ability to communicate with one another and strengthen their recovery through the encouragement of others who can relate to their situation. DailyStrength is also a website that offers support groups for a wide array of topics and conditions, including the support topics offered by PatientsLikeMe and SoberCircle. SparkPeople offers community and social networking tools for peer support during weight loss.

 See also

     Using Social Sites Has Benefits for Your Online Business

 Networking and being social on the internet

is crucial for your success, there is no question about that.It is unlikely that you will ever see any of your prospects face to face, so making a good impression through social sites is a great way to do so.

Social bookmarking began as a way for entrepreneurs to simply bookmark a particular site. It becomes quite difficult to remember every site imaginable. When you bookmark a useful site, people can quickly find it and get back to it in the future. These bookmarking sites like Digg, Technorati and Delicious have become much more than just a site to bookmark.

You can consider these sites as social communities now. Believe it or not, these sites have become an extremely powerful way to generate traffic. However, there are two aspects to generating this traffic. You must have quality content and you must have friends.It is up to you to write a quality article and then share it with your friends in the Digg or Technorati community.

What many people do not understand is you want to promote your content as well as other peoples. Giving credit to other peoples work and sharing it with your friends is a part of being sociable. You want to put out the best work possible to share with your friends.

Blogging is great way to generate traffic, but so is social bookmarking. Blogging can be extremely beneficial in a number of different ways. Obviously, it gives you the opportunity to socialize with people and get to know them. Get ideas of what other people say, and use this information to get ideas for your own content.

In addition, you can also figure out what people are looking for by listening. To find out what people are looking for you must ask questions.Do not be afraid to do that. This is the only way you will be able to branch out and offer fresh and enticing ideas.

Lastly, blogging allows you to display your expertise and promote your business. While it is vital you sit back and listen in blogs, it is equally important you join in and make your voice heard. The more brilliant comments you make, the more traffic you will receive to your web site
.

Using social sites can be beneficial for a number of reasons. It allows you to get your name out there and become recognizable. You have the ability to gain trust and build relationships with people. And you can display your expertise and offer fresh and enticing content. This can all be done with blogging, posting in different forums, social bookmarking and many social sites.
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Marketing yourself on Social Sites



There are numerous social sites on there on the internet
. Most we are familiar with in way or another. We know about the younger generation using MySpace and the big hit now is Facebook but there are so many more which I will list. Take advantage of these sites and market yourself. Use it as an advertising platform!

I get many emails a day asking me what the benefits of these sites. Most people think of them as just a place to get on and connect with others. That is true and the basic concept of the system but there is so much more.

Reaching out to people we know, or once knew can spread the word regarding our business enterprise. However there are so many other benefits to these sites.

Join!

Join these sites and have a look around. You will see some people with a huge list of friends. Mind explosion! How did they get so many friends? That is an easy one. They were invited by someone else. Don’t panic. I will explain that one too. We need to build your page first.

Your Page

Remember that you are a business person. You want friends, you want contacts, but you have a business to run. Begin with the facts about who you are. Where were you born? What schooling, certifications, or degrees do you have? What are your accomplishments? List your business and link.

Build a page describing your website detailing what it entails, the products (services) that you offer, and any special deals. Entice others to go visit it.

Don’t stop at one page. Some sites offer the ability to add more pages where you can add blogs, articles, special deals you have coming up, or mentoring programs you may have. Other sites have areas for you to post your blogs in full form adding more exposure for those who can view your writing quickly.

Places like MySpace have Bulletins. These Bulletins allow you to post special information to your group of friends.

The point is to build upon these sites and add to them allowing you more opportunities. Profiles and blogs can be viewed by anyone. They do not need to be a friend to see these. However building a network of friends is paramount to your success. As mentioned before this is not as difficult as it may seem. One friend can lead to many, many friends. Each site is different but we will look at Facebook and how easy it is to acquire these friends.

Acquiring Friends

Start with the one friend. Now look at their friends and view their profiles to see if they are like minded people. If they are someone that matches your interest send a request to them with a note telling them why you would like to be their friend. Keep doing this.

This snowballs over and over and before you know it you have many of them but just having them is not enough! Establishing repose with them is what you want.

Sites You Need To Use:

Del.icio.us

This site is great for businesses with networking. One can publish items of interest.

 

Technorati

This is a must for blog writers. This site will increase your readership in many categories with the top ones being in business and technology.

 

Squidoo

Squidoo’s site has been the major platform for many others. Share your blogs and build your profile page.

 

Digg

This site is used widely to submit articles in many categories for your business.

 

Redditt

Add your articles and submit them as often as you can. Doing so will gain you more traffic. This site is readily used.

 

You Tube

Not just for the younger generation. This is great for business too. Make a commercial about your business. What a great free advertising arena.

 

Tubearoo

This site is similar to You Tube but with this one you can use videos from experts and engage them with your business for sales.

 

StumpleUpon

With this site you can connect with like minded people and share your knowledge. A very well used online site.

 

Wiki How

Here you add your business with all of your pertinent information which is another great free advertising area.

 

Xing

This site is fantastic for professional where you can access so many other like minded people. They offer a Business Accelerator application to market your business.

 

Ziggs

This sites organizes and connect professionals, therefore you can increase your contacts and your online business.

 

Facebook

It is a wonderful place for business opportunities to meet others, promote your site, advertise, and add events. It is the place to be!

 

Mixx

This site is for submitting your writing and news. It states that it is “your link to the web content that really matters”.

 

Gather

Gather is a network of many categories for you to submit to and read more on your specific target audience.

 

MySpace

This site is not just for the younger generation. A place to add your blogs, items of interest, and more.

 

Author:

Sandi Baker

http://letusgetitdone.info

Networking Social Sites - Social Media Tactics



Networking Social Sites are simply a means of communicating with other people through a website.

You will find that almost every organization big or small has their place firmly marked out in the social sites network.

Why email when you can Twitter? Don't send out short and sweet emails to your subscribers. Most people who sign up for emails from companies expect a monthly and at worst weekly update that is chock full of information.

They don't want to open a short email with not much to go on. Save this for Twitter,
where people hunger for the short sentences and blurbs. Then, you can compile all of these over the span of a month or so into one email for the others.

Networking Social Sites are a very powerful resource in the world of Internet Marketing, this is not to say that through the use of Social Networking in your business you will make a lot of sales and suddenly become rich
and make a lot of money, despite what many gurus will tell you, it is very possible that signing up for these networking social sites
will not result in very many sales.

Why Use Networking Social Sites?

Two of the main reasons are brand and building contacts, these can be two of the most
powerful things when starting a business, brand can be important when building a
name in the industry, so people will know who you are, what you do and what you can
do for them.

Do your homework and find out what people are talking about and then expand on that with your own postings.

People WILL visit your website when they check out your profile. It's best if the website
you put here is a website about you, your company, or a squeeze page offering something of value - as opposed to a link with something for sale, such as an affiliate link. Remember, it's more important to build relationships as opposed to "marketing" to people.

The other reason is building contacts, why not explore Networking Social Sites to look for
people who are doing the same thing as you, are in the same niche, add them to your
contacts, build a relationship and learn from what they do, and do what they do.

There are many networking social sites out there, too many to mention really but shown below are the main ones to get involved with and build your profile...

Find out the best methods to use these networking social sites to the maximum benefit by studying how other people have become successful.

Use strong-arm tactics as described in such ebooks as 'Digg Tactics', 'Twitter Tactics', 'Linkedin Tactics', etc,...

More on these books can be found here: Networking Social Sites.

The 2 Social Sites Poised To Pass Myspace and Facebook



In the world of social media two companies have stood above the pack for some time, Myspace and Facebook. The recent success of companies like Twitter prove that the two giants are not alone. But are their truly any Social sites out their that can come from so far in the rear and find success, even surpass these mega sites? Say hello to my two new favorite FREE sites.

The first site is a social site, People String, that in all appearances is similar to Facebook, they have the same, invite friends, comment friends, start groups, invites, and events. There a publicly traded company. So what's so different with this site? How about these features for starters. The most unique and explosive free email service standard. I wasn't kidding, EXPLOSIVE. There Free email service has standard features like expiring email, if its not read in your set time frame it can't be read, or BLOW IT UP! Once the email is opened by the reader, after a time you set, 15 seconds to longer, your email burns up in a digital fire making the email unreadable and irretrievable. It's what 007 wishes he had. Inspector gadget wished it was
only digital. Send a message and have it burn away.This site also links all your social sites to it, Myspace, Facebook,Twitter, and more. The have a im that links all your im's into one, whether its, yahoo, msn, live, g-talk. You can log into oneim and connect to all of them in one im window.

Not enough? How about editable links to your favorite sites. Still need more? Ok when I saw this one I was truly impressed. By simply using your page to access a network of 400 or so retailers like Wal-Mart, target, OfficeMax, target, Kmart, and 100's more you will save big bucks. That's right, you get discount at your favorite retailers websites just by clicking through your homepage. Want to shop at Vista Print, well click through your social homepage instead of your browser and you'll save 7.5%.

Now your starting to see why this social site is rising faster then a backed up sink.

But here is the real magic of this site. When you use this site, message friends, use your email, etc. They Pay You. Yeah, I know, I had to read it twice myself, but its true. Just for socializing this site gives 70% of it's advertising revenue back to its members. When you refer friends to socialize too, they pay you. They'll even pay you for your friends based on their usage too. The more you and your friends use it, the more you get. You get paid 6 degrees of separation for your friends. I got on the site and in one weekend raked up $23 check for playing and talking to my friend. Come be apart of the next mega social network at People String.

Second Site, BlastOff. Blast off doesn't pay you to surf, but it does have the same discounts at over 300 retailers. And will pay you a portion of your friends discounts too. Even PizzaHut is throughing in, all their pizza boxes will promote BlastOff. So what's so great about Blastoff. Simple, they give you a revolutionary homepage. The best way to describe it is an iPhone as a webpage. The first customizable app homepage with an iphone look. Have all your favorite news feeds. company widgets, Youtube, Hulu player right on your page, social sites like Facebook integrated right in, and games you can play all on your homepage. This one is so pretty you'll instantly fall in love. In fact so many people loved it, the day they launched the massive flow of signups over powered their servers and ground the site to a halt. Go see the
prettiest social site yet.

Myspace and Facebook look out!

Hot Or Top Social Sites


If you like meeting people online, then social networking sites may be for you. We have all heard of Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, FriendFinder, FriendWise.

ClassMates is another one. Here is some information on the websites that are currently popular.

Twitter. Probably the most recognizable name in social sites right now, where people Tweet to their friends and anyone else who is interested. Each Tweet is limited to 140 characters (words and spaces). You follow your friends activities and you have followers who follow yours. It has become inundated with people trying to sell information products and that can be trying at times, but still, you can keep up with your friends, so it is still popular.

Facebook. This network is popular among high school students and college students. With this network, you are required to register with a particular group. You can only communicate with individuals within your network and not with everyone on the site.

MySpace. is where you can search for friends who are members. MySpace is not a commercial organization though it can be used tyo promote your business. It is mainly for socializing and expressing your views. It takes time to build a circle of friends but well worth the effort.

Here is a partial list:

Facebook. General. 350,000,000 Users

Classmates. School, college, work and the military 50,000,000 Users

MySpace. General. Losing ground to Facebook in recent years. 130,000,000 Users

Twitter. General. Micro-blogging, RSS, updates

75,000,000 Users

TravBuddy. Travel

1,588,000 Users

StumbleUpon. Stumble through websites that match your selected interests.

8,822,921 Users

ResearchGATE. Social network for scientific researchers

140,000 Users

MyLife. Locating friends and family, keeping in touch (formerly

Reunion) 51,000,000 users

LinkedIn. General but mainly business

53,000,000 Users

Friends Reunited. UK based. School, college, work, sport and streets

19,000,000 Users

There are many sites of all different varieties and sizes from the very small,

Advogato Free and open source software developers

13,575 users to the very large:

Facebook General.

350,000,000 users.

Whatever you want is out there somewhere and a little bit of research will find you a group of like minded people that you can interact with.

When it comes to finding a social networking website, you will find that you literally have an unlimited number of different options. Social networks have popped up all over the internet. Of course, you can join as many social networking sites as you would like to, but doing so can be tiring and time consuming. Instead of signing up for a large number of social networking sites or the first one that you come across, you are advised to research and examine a particular site. Doing so will enable to find and join the perfect social networking site, at least the one that is perfect for your needs. So go for it and Good Luck.
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Marketing on Social Sites Without Appearing Like a Spammer

How do you market your company on social sites without appearing like a spammer? You should be careful in promoting your business on social sites because there is a big chance that you will get banned. According to some researchers, social sites are nesting ground of different types of spammers. We all know that every social sites has thousands of members and users that why some online entrepreneur  choose to promote there business because there are a lot of prospect customers.

There are some ways you can do in order not to be consider as spammer. If your major aim of signing up a membership on any networking sites you should look for networking sites that are appropriate for your particular niche.

Make sure that you are not just promoting your site. You should get involve in any discussions. Be an active member. This is very important, moderator and the administrator are aware of your activities. So, to avoid being banned and consider as spammer try to interact with other members of the site.

Usually, this sites has a message board or community so that members can post thread and comments. Being an active member you should join in any conversation, but please avoid dropping some links pointing to your site on any discussion instead of giving advice or information.

Friend those you know or who have similar interests as you and even help combat spam. Attempts to friend everybody even though they may not know them or have any common interests is not a good idea. You can also join any group that tackle an issues and concerns that is related to your site. Getting involved through making friends of same likes, regularly voting and interacting, commenting and other similar activities can bring good results in the long term. Patience is very important here because it takes time before you can actually slip your own content in from time to time.

In signing up any social site you should not forget to follow the rules of the community. This will help to avoid being banned. Focus your efforts on the sites you are going to be involved in and sites that going to be related to the content you are submitting.

Best Traffic Tips From Your Social Sites

You know how important traffic is to the life of your website?

Of course you do.

So how about I share with you some of the best ways to get traffic coming into your site using those "social marketing" sites that everyone's talking about?

People call it social marketing, web 2.0 or new age marketing but the fact of the matter is this - you need to be using these social websites to your advantage because there is tons of free traffic to be had from them.

The big names like MySpace, Facebook and the rest are not only dominating news stories now and people's minds they are starting to play a really big part in driving traffic to marketers pages online. The problem though is this ...

... social sites don't like marketers! It's true! So you have to be careful when you are using them that you don't get banned or caught out. The key is to adopt this simple "4 H's" approach;

Humor, Honesty, Have fun, Help people

As long as you can inject a little piece of humor into your social marketing profile or even just a little piece of who you really are then you will start attracting lots of friends and widening your network.

You also need to maintain an honest approach throughout. No point uploading photos to your profile of P Diddy or Pamela Anderson or Brad Pitt. People want to get to know you so be honest. Most people will not add you as a friend without a picture, so download a picture.

Have fun! That's one of the great things about social marketing is that you can have lots of fun doing it. Meeting new people, learning new stuff and making money from the traffic that you get from it all at the same time.

Also remember to help people. The more you can help people the more they will help you in return. So add useful links and recommendations to your profiles. Point people in the right direction and answer any questions people post on your profile or contact you with.

Join Groups of interest to you. Sure you have many interests - just go to the group link and see what is out there already. If you do not see a specific group you were targeting, then create one! It is simple and quite easy to do. Then you will have your own following as the group leader! This will explode traffic to your site!

Social marketing is fun and educational. Get out there and meet new people and feel the pulse of the internet! Utilize the '4H' approach and enjoy the experience! See you at the social sites!

Social sites are excellent for building business communities


Hey, you know already Social Network Sites are today used by thousands of people from all over the world to promote their business and share ideas. You would have to be living under a rock not to have heard the buzz about it. Social Networking Sites today can help you build business communities and help you share your ideas, and also build upon your concepts of business marketing and promotion, as well as help put you in a postion of being an expert in your business arena.

These social sites help you interact with like minded people in a variety of ways, including instant messaging features and email applications, as well as RSS Feed. You can also create and share your information instantly. These sites have millions of members and there are new members joining up every second, of every minute of every day. Hence you can imagine the niche market that you can create through the social networking sites.

Social sites contain directories or communities that are categorized under different sections. One of these sections is business, and there are sub categories under business as well. You can simply join one of these communities for various purposes, but the chief purpose amongst them is promoting your business, and getting more information on how you can expand and diversify your niche.

The social networking sites have become a vital part of our everyday lives and in many cases a viral part. You get access to hundreds of business directories containing up to date information about business names, person to contact, email address, phone number, etc. You can register for free in these directories. Attempts are made to standardize the services across all social sites in the world.

All social sites are based on high end servers that have the ability to take a heavy load of transactions throughout the day. Hence you will never experience your business to suffer because of the failure of any of the social sites servers. Twitter at present does experience some problems but this is due to it's rappid growth, we may consider it as growing pains.

Another  great part of social sites is some have a powerful search feature where you can easily search for individuals, groups and communities, within a few seconds the relevant details will be displayed on your screen. You can also customize your queries by entering information on the details that you require.

There are a lot of innovations introduced lately, where you not only know who has joined your group but the activities that a member of the group has performed over the last few days. You now have more control, connectivity and content at your fingertips. We see that social sites have become a great source to connect people at a very low cost. This is very beneficial for business men and women entrepreneurs who can look forward to expanding their contact base.

The social networking sites are also of utmost importance for building customer relationships that enable companies to sell their products and services. Advertisements on social sites in the form of text ads and banners can be very beneficial. The sites work on a global level, thereby increasing connectivity amongst millions of people worldwide. Sites such as LinkedIn has about 20 million users registered in its business section across 150 different industries. Over the last few years these sites have undergone a transition from being personal contact sites to professional networking sites.

Using Social Networking To Increase Sales and Business Performance

Social Networking has evolved and grow rapidly online, providing huge potential for businesses to market online in a different manner, cheaply and effectively. Those that have used social marketing has proven to improve their business  performance online.

Social networking sites allow different individuals to communicate with each other and share information.  The social network is filled with individuals and links that connects them together.  It can be a group of family members spread around the country, to governments and even professional groups.  Here are some of the ways that you can profit from using social marketing sites.

Social networking allows for several people to communicate, and one of the fastest modes of advertising is through word of mouth.  If one person gives another a good review of your website, product or service, this second person in turn may stop by to visit your site.  By getting involved with networks that are have similar interests as your product offer is that you can use this social media
communication to your advantage.

The difficult part of social networking is finding the sites that cater to your interests that will still allow you to make money from.  Choose a topic that is too broad, and you are sure to have a lot of competition.  Choose one that is too narrow, and you will not have a broad enough customer base to profit on.  You need to find the balance of exclusivity and popularity.

Social sites are also a great place to find new potential clients.  Finding the right customers for your product or service is half of the battle of promoting your product.  Since people that have similar interests tend to stay together, but may operate in different interest circles.  You can use this to your advantage in two ways – one, you already have a core group of potential cleints to start with.  Plus, if they find liking your products or services, they will share with friends in other circles as well, expanding your sphere of influence like ripples on a pond.

Social networking sites also allow your customers to get the feeling that they are in touch with you - and people tend to buy items from people that they know or that they are more comfortable with.  In order to use this most effectively, you have to be a prominent character on the social network site.  Be an active poster in good standing and keep your name as one of the leaders of the group.

Along similar lines, you have to remember that the most successful social networking relationships are long term.  If you want your social networking to be effective, you need to develop lasting friendships with the people in your social networking groups.

Another positive about social media sites is that it allows you to get in touch with consumer wants and desires.  Who better to get ideas from of products to sell or services to offer than the people who will actually purchase them from you?  You may get ideas of products and services to offer that are different than what you currently offer, or ways that you can improve your products and services to stand above the rest of the competition.

You will also find that using social media sites are one of the more cost effective ways of building your customer base.  While you can always find a one time only customer online, your priority of making money is through repeat business, since you do not have to spend more on marketing to attract someone else.  You can use social sites as a strategy to improve customer relations and prove your reliability to your customers.

Moreover, social media sites will continue to thrive and become more popular.  Places like MySpace, FaceBook, Twitter and Friendster attract new members everyday, giving you access to new and potential customers daily. Not to mention social network sites like Squidoo which actually encourage you to Profit from Squidoo Social Network

There are many other social networks available online and catering to different interest groups and markets. If you want to make use of social sites to build your business, it is important to know which ones are suitable for your market. You can download a Free copy of Social Networking Directory of over 400 Social media sites for your reference and learn how you can make full use of these social media sites with Internet Marketing Strategies to enhance your business performance online at www.BOBmarketing.com

3 Compelling Reasons Social Marketing 'Rules'

Social marketing strategies have captured center stage on the internet over the last few years. The ability to interact with others at social sites is what makes them an effective marketing platform for any online business.

It seems that every day a new method of traffic generation is discovered utilizing another recently 'uncovered' technique influenced by one of these 'interactive' sites.

Blogs appear to be the primary choice amongst social sites for use as marketing platforms. So how do blogs measure up in effectiveness and popularity for online marketing as compared to websites?

Do blogs actually threaten to replace websites for online marketing purposes?

Let's see how the two compare:

EASE OF USE

Well if you consider the ease involved in setting up a blog compared to a website it's a no brainer. Even an internet novice would have little difficulty in setting up a blog and have it running in a matter of minutes. Posting to your blog is just as easy and consists of simply composing the content and then publishing it to the internet with the click of a button.

The set up of a website does require some technical knowledge involving the use of html coding, Frontpage, or FTP thereby making the setup a little more involved and time consuming.

SITE VISITOR INTERACTION

Blog visitors are able to leave comments and responses allowing them to interact with the blog owner. Websites on the other hand only give out information and generally limit the visitor's responses to either making a purchase or not.

Benefits that are derived from the interactivity of a blog include:

    * The ability to utilize reader comments and/or feedback to make improvements.
    * The chance for blog owners to gain insight into the mindset of the readers thru their opinions and comments. The insight gained can be use to make any future marketing efforts all the more effective.
    * The sense of community that results from the give and take between blog owners and their readers.
    * The increased satisfaction of blog readers upon gaining the feeling of involvement thru the responses they receive from their comments.
    * The development of a bond between and amongst readers and blog owners due to their opinion and idea sharing which results in a greater sense of trust.

CONTENT FRESHNESS

A website contains product information thereby creating little reason to routinely change or add to the content.

Blogs on the other hand reflect fresh content regularly. The frequency of posting insightful, informative, or entertaining content is what attracts readers back and is a major reason blogs are as popular as they are.

Search engines also love the constant posting of new content and reward blogs with higher search rankings as a result.

Now an argument here could be why even consider websites in your marketing mix. Well before you pull the plug on your websites consider this.

Websites serve a very definite purpose in online marketing since they are dedicated to extensive product pitching which visitors expect and accept.

Blogs however focus more on supplying free and useful content without any sales pressure. This is how the trust and respect is earned. Any sales efforts on a blog should be more in the form of suggestions or recommendations referring readers to websites more dedicated to selling.

In the end it seems apparent that websites still maintain a prominent role in online promotional activities.

While blogs, by utilizing social marketing techniques, are effective at developing trust and gaining influence, websites excel at pitching products and getting orders. Proper coordination between the two can explode your online business. All things considered there is very little reason to NOT introduce both these online platforms into your current marketing mix today!


Social Sites Promotion And Traffic Generation

A forum, a dating or a gaming online site can create a traffic of retained visitors that regularly come back to visiti it often and this can generate revenue if we monetize it with systems like CPM, Pay per Click, Pay per Sale or Pay per Lead. Well, in a site in which visitors come back regularly maybe it\'s better to put banners in which we get paid for their impressions. Premised that the quality of our website is one of two essential factors of the success of our website, the other is surely the collection of subscriptions. To make people subscribe is not difficult: we can post in forums or use advertising campaigns like Google Adwords, we can use article marketing and give a SEO makeup to our website.

SEO is the acronym of Search Engin Optimization and is about to rank high in the search engines obtained through optimization of our webpages and through getting quality links that is needed to get good results. We can get links by submitting to the many directories that we can find by searching Google by \"directory\" or by publishing articles in the many article directories we can find searching Google by \"article directory\". The links we put through posts in forums usually have the attribute NOFOLLOW so are useless for ranking high in search engines but useful to bring us visitors.

To know more about SEO just search Google by \"free seo guide\". If we use article marketing as a promotion tool we should write our articles not as pure advertising material but as useful also if who reads them doesn\'t follow the link we provide. We will put them in our site too that in this way its volume will grow and this is liked by search engines: our articles must to be pertaining to the contents of our website since they are valueless if are about other topics since Google compare linked pages to their linking pages by the words used, so contextuality make links useful while lack of it makes them nearly useless. In PubblicitAdvertising you will be able to submit your articles getting in this way traffic and backlinks...

Social Sites and Communities Spread Your Influence Online

With so many new social networking sites, you may be tempted to overlook the older groups and forums that first started this trend online. Don't! These are a goldmine of targeted traffic that usually attracts people who are webmasters, entrepreneurs, and other people who are technically involved in spreading information on the World Wide Web. So, while joining social networks increases your exposure to the ordinary folk, you can usually find some heavy duty movers and shakers on groups. And, that's where you should be too to gather some of that influence for yourself.

Not only that, but groups are exquisitely narrowed to specific topics and concerns. Where else can you go to a group that is involved solely in the pursuit of all things that deal with Keanu Reeves, or some other film star? Where else will you find an area solely devoted to composting or raising worms? The number of groups on the web is astounding as so is the degree to which they specialize. Since they are so specialized, they make the perfect petri dish to grow exactly the type of connection that brings people who are interested in your products back to your website.

Finally, it's far easier to be noticed in a small group of a few hundred people than it is to be noticed on a social networking site with millions of people. Obviously, the more you participate in a group and contribute to the conversation intelligently, the higher your reputation in that group. Eventually, if you maintain a presence in a group long enough, people start to remember who you are from your older posts and they will start to see you as more of an expert in the topic that the group is discussing. This not only increases your influence in the group, but eventually it increases your influence with the people who are going to be your customers. They will land on your website from links placed in your signature when you posted and they will be more apt to buy from you because they trust you.
Groups Galore

So, where are these groups and how do you find them? Groups can be set up by anyone, a major portal online, or even non-profits or other social entrepreneur sites. There are even groups on Facebook that you can join that will allow you to network outside your profile and connected friends. Some groups are started by website owners who offer a membership that includes access to special groups. These aren't free like the others, but if they are highly popular can lead to getting good traffic if you contribute within them content that people admire. If you want to find groups by plugging into a search engine, just add the following into the search box "keyword+groups" to find more groups.

What is Social Media and How Can You Use it to Build a List?

Who else wants tons of free traffic, free backlinks, new subscribers... and more money? All of this (and more) can be yours when you start using social media sites to drive targeted traffic to your site and onto your mailing list!

Now before we jump into the details, let's define "social media." First. Basically, social media sites are those where like-minded individuals (niche groups) can meet, network and share information. They are the latest trend in internet marketing
. Marketers have been jump into the wagon to use and then maximize the power of social sites. They are powerful tools to bring traffic to any site. The most popular types of social media sites include:

1) Social networking sites. These are sites like MySpace.com, Facebook.com, Friendster.com and LinkedIn.com. Here, people with common interests can network, get on each other's "friends" lists, keep their friends updated using bulletins (internal emails) and blog posts, etc.

2) Social bookmarking sites. These are sites like Digg.com, Reddit.com, StumbleUpon.com, Propeller.com and similar. The idea behind these sites is that users can share interesting web pages with other members.

Members rate and review pages - the more good ratings and reviews, the more these pages are seen by other people... and that means these sorts of sites work hand-in-hand with viral content.

3) Social "Content Sites." These content sites include YouTube and other video-sharing sites, Squidoo and other user-generated pages, Yahoo! Answers and other community question/answer platforms, and similar.

Like the other social media sites, these content sites integrate social networking. However, the content sites are primarily known for their content - and for the love that Google gives them. (That means if you optimize your pages for long-tail keywords, you can snag top rankings in Google.)

If you want to start using social media sites to drive traffic to your site and subscribers onto your newsletter list, remember this: These sites don't operate in a vacuum. The more you use them together, the more powerful the strategy becomes and the more traffic you'll see.

For example, let's suppose you create a video to post on YouTube. You should then:

* Use Digg, StumbleUpon.com and similar to bookmark the video.

* Post the video on your social networking sites (like MySpace) and alert your friends list.

* Post the video on your other content sites like Squidoo and HubPages.

* And blog about it on all of your social media sites.

In other words, your accounts on all these different sites give you plenty of opportunities to link your social profiles and pages together as well as sending links back to your own site.

Now that you know a bit about how these sites work and how you can use them to drive traffic to your own site, you're probably wondering how, exactly, you can leverage them for links, traffic and sales.

Until then, check out "Smartway Social List Building
" to discover what the gurus know about building their lists using YouTube, MySpace, Digg, Squidoo and other social media sites!

Getting your Social Marketing Off the Ground

Social marketing is an often misunderstood form of marketing that is reaping huge rewards for website owners who use it. Most webmasters who understand it, even while being very new to social marketing, are seeing results like:

1. Higher search engine rankings
for their top keywords

2. More rankings of additional keywords or "long tail" keyword phrases

3. More link popularity from sites linking on their own accord

4. More link popularity from social media sites

5. More activity on their blogs, such as more commenting and interaction

6. Direct traffic from incoming links on social media sites (One good StumbleUpon.com submission can net thousands of visitors alone.)

7. Fast traffic increases and steady growth in unique visitors month after month

8. An increase in subscribers and sales. Social traffic, properly acquired, is very warm to your message and products.

The problem for most people when thinking about social marketing, after getting a taste of all the hundreds of sites there are to interact with, is becoming overwhelmed and paralyzed into inaction.

They assume established social marketers gained their "social authority" in a short period of time. This is simply not true. Although the opportunities for driving serious traffic and rankings from hundreds of social sites exists, it is an embarrassment of riches.

And it cannot be conquered over night. It is a gradual process you manage with all your other responsibilities and grow as time allows.

What I encourage my clients to do is set aside enough time each day to get one more link, participate in one more conversation, or sign up for one more account on a social site.

A little goes a long way and social marketing is not an "all or nothing" situation. After some time you will become established on the social sites you need to have a presence on. And you will have a schedule that allows you to keep up with your other work while adding this extremely powerful marketing method to the mix.

10 Steps For Starting a Social Marketing Campaign

1. Schedule a bit of time each day to do some new things. Don't just say you are going to do them. Write the time into your day and follow through.

2. Sign up for the major social news sites: Digg.com, Propeller.com, Mixx.com. Don't submit anything to these sites until you have filled out your profile completely and submitted news from elsewhere on the web to generate a real presence and avoid being labeled as a spammer.

In fact, BE a real presence and don't try to push your own content onto the networks you belong to. It should feel and be natural and you will know what "natural is on each network by participating, commenting, voting and getting a general sense of what members think is good and bad content. Watch their comments and votes and you will know how to proceed with your own site's content from there.

3. If you don't have a blog, you must install one immediately. This is not an option. It is an absolute necessity on today's web. Our company uses Wordpress and recommends it over any other blogging platform, and it can be installed easily by you or your webmaster. Wordpress download: http://wordpress.org/download/

Option #2: Check with your web host to see if they have Fantastico available to you and, if so, that it installs the latest version of Wordpress. If so you are very lucky because the software can be installed by you very easily in just a few steps with Fantastico.

4. Once you have your blog set up, join the following networks. (These are blog communities that will help you generate visitors, authority, and links and most bloggers belong to them.) MyBlogLog.com (install the widget on your Wordpress blog), and BlogCatalog.com. (they also have a widget to install)

5. Join groups, interact with other publishers, and make friends with the easy networking tools these sites provide. Especially the people who would be most likely to link to your blog and send you traffic who write about similar things or have an audience similar to yours who'd benefit by knowing you. You can even start your own group, promote it in the network, and send "shouts" to the group when you have announcements or need attention to a new post.

6. As soon as you establish yourself on the sites mentioned above, move on to other sites like them that might be more targeted directly to your niche and the market you work in. There are a lot of new "vertical" social sites popping up that focus on much more narrow markets and their membership is far warmer to your kind of information than on the bigger, more general networks above.

Add a new site to the mix as often as you can and repeat the steps for becoming established there as mentioned in Step 2 above.

7. Join a group dedicated to social marketing to pick up tips from other social marketers and find new places you can sign up with to continue building your social authority. New sites pop up every single day. Follow places like Go2Web20.net to find new opportunities to connect with your market.

8. Remote blog. Join blogger.com and put content there that is good, just not good enough to go on your main blog. This serves two purposes: 1) you get to use more of the great content you find as you travel through all the social news sites and 2) it gives you another place to link back to your main site and pass on traffic and link popularity over time.

9. Track your progress diligently. If something you are trying on a social network isn't working, you need to know that in order to save time and move on to something more fruitful. MyBlogLog.com (above) has a tracking system which will show you where your traffic is coming from so you can avoid time wasting efforts and focus more on the sites that are really pulling in good traffic for you.

10. Don't freak out! This is only overwhelming if you act like someone at an all-you-can-eat buffet with no self control. You have other things to do and this needs to fit into, not dominate, your current business and marketing.

Social marketing can partially or completely replace other methods you are using to promote your site including paid advertising. Many people completely drop their paid advertising or PPC campaigns once they see the organic, natural traffic and search engine rankings pile up from social marketing.

Until then, just take it one step at a time and do some social marketing. A little goes a long way and before you know it, you will reach a point where a lot of traffic and lots of search engine rankings are piling up because you simply started doing something each day.

There's a lot you can learn about social marketing. And not all of it can be found on free blogs.

Getting your Social Marketing Off the Ground

Social marketing is an often misunderstood form of marketing that is reaping huge rewards for website owners who use it. Most webmasters who understand it, even while being very new to social marketing, are seeing results like:

1. Higher search engine rankings for their top keywords

2. More rankings of additional keywords or "long tail" keyword phrases

3. More link popularity from sites linking on their own accord

4. More link popularity from social media sites

5. More activity on their blogs, such as more commenting and interaction

6. Direct traffic from incoming links on social media sites (One good StumbleUpon.com submission can net thousands of visitors alone.)

7. Fast traffic increases and steady growth in unique visitors month after month

8. An increase in subscribers and sales. Social traffic, properly acquired, is very warm to your message and products.

The problem for most people when thinking about social marketing, after getting a taste of all the hundreds of sites there are to interact with, is becoming overwhelmed and paralyzed into inaction.

They assume established social marketers gained their "social authority" in a short period of time. This is simply not true. Although the opportunities for driving serious traffic and rankings from hundreds of social sites exists, it is an embarrassment of riches.

And it cannot be conquered over night. It is a gradual process you manage with all your other responsibilities and grow as time allows.

What I encourage my clients to do is set aside enough time each day to get one more link, participate in one more conversation, or sign up for one more account on a social site.

A little goes a long way and social marketing is not an "all or nothing" situation. After some time you will become established on the social sites you need to have a presence on. And you will have a schedule that allows you to keep up with your other work while adding this extremely powerful marketing method to the mix.

10 Steps For Starting a Social Marketing Campaign

1. Schedule a bit of time each day to do some new things. Don't just say you are going to do them. Write the time into your day and follow through.

2. Sign up for the major social news sites: Digg.com, Propeller.com, Mixx.com. Don't submit anything to these sites until you have filled out your profile completely and submitted news from elsewhere on the web to generate a real presence and avoid being labeled as a spammer.

In fact, BE a real presence and don't try to push your own content onto the networks you belong to. It should feel and be natural and you will know what "natural is on each network by participating, commenting, voting and getting a general sense of what members think is good and bad content. Watch their comments and votes and you will know how to proceed with your own site's content from there.

3. If you don't have a blog, you must install one immediately. This is not an option. It is an absolute necessity on today's web. Our company uses Wordpress and recommends it over any other blogging platform, and it can be installed easily by you or your webmaster. Wordpress download: http://wordpress.org/download/

Option #2: Check with your web host to see if they have Fantastico available to you and, if so, that it installs the latest version of Wordpress. If so you are very lucky because the software can be installed by you very easily in just a few steps with Fantastico.

4. Once you have your blog set up, join the following networks. (These are blog communities that will help you generate visitors, authority, and links and most bloggers belong to them.) MyBlogLog.com (install the widget on your Wordpress blog), and BlogCatalog.com. (they also have a widget to install)

5. Join groups, interact with other publishers, and make friends with the easy networking tools these sites provide. Especially the people who would be most likely to link to your blog and send you traffic who write about similar things or have an audience similar to yours who'd benefit by knowing you. You can even start your own group, promote it in the network, and send "shouts" to the group when you have announcements or need attention to a new post.

6. As soon as you establish yourself on the sites mentioned above, move on to other sites like them that might be more targeted directly to your niche and the market you work in. There are a lot of new "vertical" social sites popping up that focus on much more narrow markets and their membership is far warmer to your kind of information than on the bigger, more general networks above.

Add a new site to the mix as often as you can and repeat the steps for becoming established there as mentioned in Step 2 above.

7. Join a group dedicated to social marketing to pick up tips from other social marketers and find new places you can sign up with to continue building your social authority. New sites pop up every single day. Follow places like Go2Web20.net to find new opportunities to connect with your market.

8. Remote blog. Join blogger.com and put content there that is good, just not good enough to go on your main blog. This serves two purposes: 1) you get to use more of the great content you find as you travel through all the social news sites and 2) it gives you another place to link back to your main site and pass on traffic and link popularity over time.

9. Track your progress diligently. If something you are trying on a social network isn't working, you need to know that in order to save time and move on to something more fruitful. MyBlogLog.com (above) has a tracking system which will show you where your traffic is coming from so you can avoid time wasting efforts and focus more on the sites that are really pulling in good traffic for you.

10. Don't freak out! This is only overwhelming if you act like someone at an all-you-can-eat buffet with no self control. You have other things to do and this needs to fit into, not dominate, your current business and marketing.

Social marketing can partially or completely replace other methods you are using to promote your site including paid advertising. Many people completely drop their paid advertising or PPC campaigns once they see the organic, natural traffic and search engine rankings pile up from social marketing.

Until then, just take it one step at a time and do some social marketing. A little goes a long way and before you know it, you will reach a point where a lot of traffic and lots of search engine rankings are piling up because you simply started doing something each day.

There's a lot you can learn about social marketing. And not all of it can be found on free blogs.

Top 10 Tips For Promoting Your Business Through Social Networks

Nowadays, many businesses are reaping the fruits of the internet, especially with the advertising opportunities that the internet offers. One of the ways to advertise or promote businesses is through the emerging online social networks.

You may not notice but quite a few businesses nowadays are advertising through several social networks such as MySpace, Facebook, Friendster, LinkedIn, Hi5, and Tagged among many similar sites. Some may be cynical or disbelieving when it comes to making use of social networking sites to promote their businesses, but that is only because they are not truly acquainted with the potential that these sites have.

If you need persuasion, think about the many people accessing such social networking sites on not only daily, but also on an hour to hour and even minute to minute basis. Imagine a stronger web presence for your business. Most competitors have already joined the trend so why don't you join in the fun? You'll have more potential clients and you'll build more credibility.

Perhaps you might think that advertising on a social site may not be a good image for your business. Some social networking sites are mainly patronized by teenagers, so if your business is not something for the kids, then it might not be of much benefit for you to do so. However, word of mouth is still such a powerful tool to market and promote a business.

A teenager telling his or her mom or dad about what they saw in the Internet is just an example. This is the beginnings of the very powerful word of mouth marketing, and many buzzes now start on social networking sites. Here are ten tips that will help you in promoting your business through such social networks.

1. Try out several social networking sites.

To start with, don't just focus on just one or two social networking websites. Begin with as many as possible: the opposite of what you might expect to do, but try it. It works with these sites. You can post a photograph of yourself, digital photographs of your company and of your products if you have them, or of your company logo. Write some blogs, make some quizzes or engage in activities until you get noticed.

After you've built your presence in multiple networking sites, it's time to focus on one or two sites that generate positive results. By now you should have seen how people react to it and you'll know which social networking websites are the most effective for you.

2. Share the company's public profile.

Lay out your business expertise. Clearly state your credentials. At the same time, make sure that your profile is as attractive as possible. It has to be something that will catch other social networkers' attention. Also, make sure that your profile is keyword-rich for people using the advanced search features.

3. Make use of applications and widgets.

Most of the social networking websites you'll see now have their own widgets and applications. Some of these widgets were made for businesses. They have a business page or "About" page made specifically for companies. Make particular use of the Fan page, the News page, and the Events page.

4. Comment on posts or blogs online.

One way to maximize the opportunity of your web presence is by commenting or replying to posts, articles, and blogs you see online. You can leave your signature (with links to your website) after your username. This will help you get noticed even more.

5. Join forums or groups.

When you join forums, you get to engage with other like minded individuals and share your ideas with other people. Then hopefully, they might notice your expertise and may even ask for details of your products or services before you have to offer them.

6. Seek help from expert social networkers.

Social networking is just like traditional networking. The internet just made it easier. So if you want more networkers to notice you ask for help from the experts and find out how best to use this medium. Ask and answers will be forthcoming.

7. Select your friends.

Since you're creating an account for your business, your friends will matter. Make sure that all your friends are legitimate, trust-worthy, and credible. It doesn't matter if you only have a few friends. The quality of friends you add to your account is what matters most.

8. Write recommendations for valued clients.

Your clients don't need to tell you to write them a recommendation. If you feel they are valuable, then recommend them. Not only are you being more credible to your readers by providing genuine information, your clients will be happy and may do the same for you.

9. Promote your blog or online resources.

Blogging or writing articles and providing resources to your readers or clients have proven to be an effective way to drive traffic to your website. So if you have a blog, make sure that you promote it through these networking sites.

10. Use privacy settings.

In order to avoid scam artists and identity theft, make sure that you adjust the privacy settings that can be found in social networking sites. Check what information can be seen by the public and by your friends and adjust accordingly.

Why not start to use social networking sites to the greatest advantage for your online business
? Most traditional businesses have no idea how to use this new medium, and if you do then you can have a good and profitable lead on your competitors.