Professional Networking Sites

I asked the following question to my connections on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter:

What's your favorite professional networking site/app and why?

Here's a smattering of responses:

"Personally, it's LinkedIn. Easy to use and very robust. Next would be Facebook, due to it's extensive reach."Jay Waddell, via LinkedIn

"LinkedIn seems to be the most useful site from a professional standpoint. I like it because (so far) it doesn't have many distractions from establishing a real-life network. Then again, I think I've met more people in my field via Twitter lately than I ever met via other social media apps. Twitter does a great job of helping you expand your network and it facilitates face-to-face meetings better than any other medium." Celeste Lindell, via Facebook

"I see Twitter as my social/conversational platform, and keep Facebook exclusively for business." Rick Murray, via Twitter

"I prefer Twitter because through micro conversation I find that it is a terrific relationship building tool. And, after all, what is networking if it is not relationship building." Kim Dushinski, via LinkedIn

"My favorite professional app is LinkedIn. I have connected with those who are in the industry I want to be someday: social media" Mark V via Twitter

"Although it's intended purpose is not professional networking, Twitter has been, by far, my favorite and most effective site. Twitter is one of the only social networking site that I use professionally, or in any capacity for that matter, that consistently drives online relationships to offline ones and elevates those professional relationships I already have..."
Ben Grossman, via LinkedIn

"...However, I think I might give another perspective here, my blog is my favorite professional networking site. Although the blog is my personal business blog, and is not connected through a social networking system. Though I do have mybloglog. I think my blog has built and maintained more professional relationships than any other networking site. The biggest reason is that I put more effort into my blog than most of the other networking sites I'm a member of. So I'd suggest that the best networking sites for people are often those where you spend the most time and effort." John Cass, via LinkedIn

"i use only linkedin; more of a least disliked than a favorite..." Pete Thomas via Twitter

"I use Plaxo and LinkedIn and I've also signed up for Naymz. LinkedIn is still my favorite because more people seem to use it. I like thinking about this in terms of Metcalf's law - a value of a network is proportional to the square of the number of users on the system. Professional networking sites have utility because they enable you to connect with others and thus far, more people get in touch with me via linkedin than any other professional network I use..." Simon Kuo, via LinkedIn

"I'd say linkedin is my fav @zenaweist. I've both made contacts and reconnected with a lot of long lost ones." Jon Hand, via Twitter

"My favourite professional networking site is the Ask Liz Ryan Group, an online networking group with 25,000+ members, run by HR guru Liz Ryan. The group, is an amazing resource that provides a forum for both personal and professional support. No matter what the question -- health issues, career development, travel advice, negotiation skills -- the Ask Liz Ryan community is there to respond." Amrita Chandra, via LinkedIn

"LinkedIn for professional relationships; facebook for combination of fun, friends and some business; twitter real time interactn" Bill Miller, via Twitter

"Personally, I use all three (Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook). Twitter is great for establishing and growing relationships, is fast, and extremely easy to use yet is somewhat limited by its 140 characters. LinkedIn provides depth and background information, and Facebook acts as a great rolodex since it contains contact info and other "CRM" type data. Roll them all together and you have a great system." Warren Sukernek, LinkedIn

See all answers that came in through LinkedIn, here.

Here's a few articles/posts that provide basic tips on social and professional networks:

Write Your LinkedIn Profile For Your Future, Chris Brogan
The Social Network as a Career Safety Net, New York Times
Top Professional Network Comparison, Be Networked
Why You Should Join, CIO
Tips on Using Networking Sites, Washington Post
Top Ten Ways To Use LinkedIn, Guy Kawasaki

Thanks to everyone for responding so quickly! Please keep the discussion going via comments through twitter, linkedin or facebook.

iSuperBowl

Along with 97 million other people, I watched the Super Bowl last Sunday evening. Along with over 200 other people, I tweeted during the Super Bowl about the game and of course the ads.

On the Friday before the Super Bowl, Robert Rosenthal invited all members of the facebook group, What I Saw at the Direct Marketing Revolution,
to join him on Twitter to comment about the game.

Our family had opted out of Super Bowl parties this year, so Rosenthal's invite was a great way for my family to be part of a virtual party and still squeeze in toddler baths, homework and make little one's bedtimes.

So a little before kick-off, I logged into Twitter and saw this tweet from Jeremiah Owyang:



Jeremiah created an easy ad critic rating system and dubbed his experiment “the twitterbowl”.

So my family and I found ourselves evaluating ads on a 1-5 scale. Our kids took turns sitting in my lap or near me watching the Super Bowl conversation unfold on twitter.com. Our 4 yr old asked me to change my twitter profile picture from “a cartoon” (an avatar) to “real” (a photograph.) I’d read them comments and we’d debate other people’s ratings.



I was truly surprised with how engaged I stayed with the twitterbowl. I didn’t venture off, multi-task online (do bills, catch up on email, etc.) as I thought I would. I was glued to the twitterbowl and occasionally looking up at the TV to check out the game and watch the ads. Occasionally, I’d venture to the URL posted with the ad, such as Tide’s mytalkingstain.com (Loved it!), but everything I did online during the game was about the game. For someone with adult ADD, this is a feat.

As posts came in literally seconds apart, I was amazed at the variance in ranking. Commercials I loved, others absolutely hated. Also, during halftime as I was doing laundry, helping kiddos with baths, etc, I carried my mobile phone with me to keep tabs on the twitterati pulse via m.twitter.com on the half time entertainment and ads.

The reason I titled this iSuperBowl is because, this was the most interactive Super Bowl I’ve experienced. Where the pulse was immediate, compelling and twitterati controlled. Of course, I went to the Super Bowl spot’s microsites when there was a call-to-action (did I say how much I loved Tide's ;>); however the true online buzz, from my perspective, was pure community commentary – again another example of
community sourcing, twitterati-style.



To view the results of Jeremiah’s experiment, please see his recap post.

Follow me on Twitter, twitter.com/zenaweist.

Scoble's profile off Facebook - well, for about a day

Scoble's explanation of his PLAXO test.

Update: Facebook has turned Scoble's profile back on. PLAXO's POV from Jeremiah's post.

Social Media Buzzwords and Twitter WOM

Ah, it's days like today that make me so happy to be part of the everchanging social media landscape.

This morning through Pete Blackshaw's Facebook group, Consumer-Generated Media, Pete directed me to his ClickZ article, "Official 2008 Buzzword Forecast."

Pete is a passionate, enthusiastic speaker; a cutting-edge marketer; and, IMHO a social media guru. He calls it like he sees it (and 9 out of 10 times, he nails the trend at hand) and he is personable, meaning he let's people in - so he's authentic regarding work, play and family.

Yep, and there's no kick back for me on this...I only know Pete through webinars, his blogs, and facebook. I'm touting him only because his blog is relevant to my work and he writes relevant, conversational posts in a way that helps me educate through out my organization without overwhelming.

Anyway, Pete's Buzzword Forecast is a must read and share. He has a pulse on socnet subjects marketers are dealing with, terms we will be using and his defensive brand strategies are spot on.

And another great post of Pete's is his post on Peter Kim's Top 20 Marketing Blogs.

And here's the other 12/11 social media occurrence that I had to write about, Jeremiah Owyang's post on Twitter. Jeremiah's current gig is a Forrester senior analyst and he is best known for his blog, Web Strategist.

In his blog post today, Jeremiah talks about the changes he is experiencing with Twitter. Those that follow me know I'm all about this microblogging utility. Twitter has changed the way I consume media as with many others as well.



Jeremiah tweeted about his post and low and behold, look how many people have commented. Over 200 the last time I checked. It appears his post is so popular his host server is down at this time. Twitter is lagging today as well, maybe it has to do with the Jeremiah buzz as well. WOM is going strong on Twitter today.

On Twitter:
Follow Pete Blackshaw: http://www.twitter.com/pblackshaw
Follow Jeremiah Owyang: http://www.twitter.com/jowyang
Follow me: http://www.twitter.com/zenaweist

Facebook is now living in the reality of our opt-in world

So I'm reading Mark Zuckerberg's Beacon apology on the Facebook blog today and I unconsciously start humming Madonna's Material World. And my inner voice is singing - "We are living in a opt-in world and I am an opt-in girl. You know that we are..." and for those of you that know me - yep, even my inner voice is singing it off tune.

Anyway, I'm surprised that the up-and-coming, over-buzzed, media-darling, "we are grassroots", all about community Social Networking Site (SNS) didn't get from the get that communities live in an opt-in world and we *all* are opt-in girls - well, people. (sigh)

Seriously, how could there not be an uproar over constantly having to opt-out? That's so first days of email campaigns logic - faulty, slimy logic.

I wonder if Facebook did any user acceptance testing with Beacon? Not in the UI but in the actual concept down to opting out with every action. Are they that removed from the conversation pulse that they would need to do testing to know how wrong opt-out is? I'm a little stumped over the rush to market and the lack of common sense.

Lesson here: Don't lose sight of what got you to where you are.

There's good news, Zuckerberg did respond (finally) and admitted Facebook's mistakes over the last several weeks with Beacon. Yep, they changed their tune...Facebook is realizing they to are living in an opt-in world.

Joseph Jaffe uses social media to practice what he preaches

Ok, this post is very late in coming and I apologize, I've just been absorbing other people's thoughts on Joseph Jaffe's crowd-sourcing, social media extravaganza.

You haven't heard the bumrush buzz? Read on...

I am a Facebook friend of Joseph Jaffe, part of his Jaffe Juice group on Facebook, read his blog, as well as follow him on Twitter. Yep, I'm a Jaffe Juice Junkie :).

Joseph invited me along with several other folks to join him in his "Bumrush the Charts" social media PR event.

Jaffe asked people to participate in a monumental event - purchase his latest book, Join The Conversation, on Sunday, 10/21 via amazon.com and help him break the Amazon.com Top 10.

Jim Tobin provides a great recap of Joseph's PR 2.0 tactics.

Joseph incorporated the social media elements he discusses in this book to sell it. It was an incredible event to experience.

Yes, I bought the book, see below in true socnet etiquette, Jaffe thanks me at 2:15pm:


and when will my name ever appear before Karl Long's again? Seriously, very nice touch, Joe!

And I'm over halfway through the book and using nuggets everyday in my current role, more to come...

Socnet @ It's Finest - Twitter, Blogs & Facebook help send Cambodian Girl to College

Beth Kanter's personal non-profit fundraising campaign, for me, is one of those wonderful socnet phenomenons that I feel honored to be a part of. Using twitter, blogs and facebook, Beth raised most of the campaign's funding in 2 hours.

I found out about Beth's efforts through Chris Brogan. He sent the following tweet:


I clicked the tiny URL and immediately wanted to help out. The price was right - ten bucks - that's lunch out or a trip to Starbuck's. I could manage that especially for a great cause!

And 57 other socnet souls thought the same thing. Below is the list of the people, who through socnet actions, chipped in to help out Leng this semester. Kudos, everyone!

And it's not to late to get your "feel good" on...
Your $10 Can Send Champhearom to College & A Big Thank You to the Other Contributors!



Thank You to These Great People Who Have Already Contributed to Beth's Campaign:

Shirley Williams
Michael David Pick
Preetam Rai
Wiebke Herding
Peter Cranstone
Polly Thompson
Nicholas Booth
Fernanda Ibarra
Britt Bravo
Kelley-sue LeBlanc
Laura Whitehead
Allyson Lazar
CindyAE
Andrew Carothers
John Powers
Neesha Rahim
Anal Bhattacharya
Steve Bridger
Lloyd Davis
Donna Callejon
Chris Brogan
Anonymous
Joyce Bettencourt
Erin Vest
Philip C Campbell
Jane E Quigley
Steve Spalding
Amanda Mooney
Ann Miller
Donna Papacosta
Christopher Lester
Zena Weist
Connie Reece
Mary Reagan
michael dunn
Anne Boccio
S Michelle Wolverton
Israel Rosencrantz
Clint Smith
Stephen Keaveny
Scott Schablow
Justin Kownacki
Neha Yellurkar
Amie Gillingham
David Beaudouin
Edwin S Coyle III
Liz Perry
Haystack in A Needle
Ian Wilker

I get a lot of facebook golden nuggets from the facebook observer. One of my favorites is a quick summary of some of the fb business apps @ http://tinyurl.com/2nf23h
.

My shift

It started as a "toe in the water" test.

I'll create a facebook profile and search for the buzz. Check facebook out because I need to, but like MySpace not really use it.

Well, facebook was different from the moment I put my big toe in.

It didn't feel the least bit cold, it was refreshing because it's intuitive to set up. I didn't need to bone up on my HTML which I haven't attempted since '95. And, how novel...facebook told me how many of my colleagues were already on facebook (unlike MySpace when I set it up) so I had a community right off the bat.

I was wading in the facebook pool without much effort.

So several of my cohorts had profiles on facebook and immediately engaged me in their conversations. I felt the utility immediately. I was swimming laps in no time, but I didn't feel winded. No more toe, I was diving into facebook apps, groups, networks and seeing the relevance immediately.

Honestly, it's been a long time since I've been this excited about anything on the internet. And the internet is my job - and I'm passionate about it.

I'd have to say the last time I felt this much relevant internet innovation was in the early '90s when I saw Yahoo for the first time on Mozilla - though it was left justified text and gray background, it was revolutionary to me because the utility was there for me - Yahoo was a filter, a search engine - it made simple sense, easy to get.

facebook is revolutionary to me because it is all about me and my relationships on so many fronts and it makes simple sense.

So now what? My stroke has fundamentally changed (last feeble attempt at the swimming metaphor, I promise.)

I've shifted from my "check email, blogs, look into socnet sites" routine to "check facebook and all connected to my facebook profile" routine, then if there's time - I get around to the others.