Social Networking (via Social Media)

Assembled by © Copyright Carter McNamara, MBA, PhD, Authenticity Consulting, LLC.

Online social networking is viewed by many as the next new paradigm in personal and organizational networking and marketing. People use social media to do the social networking -- media tools, such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. The following sections first give a broad overview of the movement of social networking, including basics about each of the most popular tools. The next section describes how to use the tools for personal and organizational networking and marketing.

Overview of Social Networking

Overview of Major Tools for Social Networking

Social Networking for Personal and Organizational Networking and Marketing

General Resources for Social Networking

Overview of Social Networking

The following links will give you a general understanding of social networking and its many uses, and will mention some of the most common social networking tools -- although the number of tools seems to be increasing daily. The following paragraphs in this Library topic give you more information about some of the most popular tools.

Social Networking
Social Networking 101 (basics)
Social Networking in Business Is Next Big Things
Leveraging Social Networking Sites to Generate Business
Online Social Networking Goes to Work
Social Networks Dominate in Online Display Ads
More Marketers Use Social Networking to Reach Customers
Social Networking for Nonprofits: Panacea or Hype?
Free Software Isn't Free!
Are You Better Off NOT Having A Blog?

Overview of Major Tools for Social Networking

Blogging

A blog is an online journal of information about a certain topic. The blogger, or owner of the blog, writes or publishes regular "posts," or articles, about the topic. Posts vary in size from 100 words to 1,000 depending on the nature of the topic. The posts might be published once a month or even once a day, depending on the blogger's time and energy for the blog.

A blog is a powerful means for the blogger to establish relationships with stakeholders by sharing his/her opinions and expertise on a regular basis. Stakeholders could include, e.g., customers, investors, employees, community leaders, collaborators and suppliers. The stakeholders read the blog posts to learn more about the topic and even more about the blogger.

Business Blog FAQ
Bloggers -- A Portrait of the Internet's New Storytellers
Starting to Write Your Business Blog
Blogging for Your Online Business

Here's a link to a list of directories, each of which lists many blogs about various topic.

Directories of Blogs About Management Topics

LinkedIn is sometimes described as a "social networking service for adults". It's a very useful tool for quickly informing people about your professional experiences, skills and interests. You also can use LinkedIn to conveniently network with others who have similar backgrounds and interests. Compare LinkedIn to Facebook, below, which tends to be about more informal topics, such as personal background, interests, family, hobbies, friends, etc.
LinkedIn
LinkedIn (Wikipedia)
Why LinkedIn is the One Social Network I Couldn't Work Without
LinkedIn - Social Networking for Professionals
LinkedIn Social Network Keeps Growing During Recession
The Missing Link (myspace for adults)
LinkedIn Criticism
N etworking With LinkedIn - Tips To Improve Your Visibility And Credibility

Facebook

People can join Facebook to share information about themselves or their organization. Information about themselves tends to be rather informal -- more so than LinkedIn. Organizations increasingly use Facebook as a public relations tool, to inform the public about the organization.
Facebook
Facebook (Wikipedia)
Criticism of Facebook

MySpace

MySpace is a social networking site for people to share information especially about themselves. Users of social networking often compare Facebook and MySpace and have strong feelings about which one is best.
MySpace
MySpace (Wikipedia)
Do You MySpace
MySpace Criticism

Twitter

Twitter is a social networking site that allows the author to quickly share messages, or tweets, of up to 140 characters and with huge numbers of people. While 140 characters might seem quite limiting, an increasing number of people and organizations use Twitter to share opinions and even to advertise products and services. Some news organizations use Twitter to quickly broadcast up-to-the-minute news items.
Twitter
Twitter (Wikipedia)
Twitter Basic Primer
Why the Twitter Haters are Wrong
Tweet Yourself To Success With Twitter
Seven Ways To Tweet Your Followers On Twitter

YouTube

YouTube provides a forum in which people can show videos about a broad range of subjects, including about themselves and their organizations. The videos usually include audio/sound, so YouTube is a very quick, convenient, low-cost way to broadcast information about yourself and your organization. It's viewed by millions of people.
YouTube (Wikipedia)
Mashable (about social networking tools)

Social Networking for Personal and Organizational Marketing

Marketing Your Business On YouTube
7 Tips for Effective Marketing with Twitter
Using Facebook to Improve Your Business
Case Study: Mobile Call to Action Engages Lincoln Center Audience
Case Study: Viral Mobile Marketing Campaign Achieves 72% Click-Through Rate
Global Study: Business Policy and Risks of Employee Social Media Use

General Resources for Social Networking

List of social networking sites
25 Social Networking Sites for Librarians
Mashable
The Connect Between Social Networking And Small Online Businesses

For the Category of Career Development:

Recommended Books

General Information

Field Guide to Leadership and Supervision in Business: by Carter McNamara, published by Authenticity Consulting, LLC.
Includes step-by-step guidelines, tips and tools to effectively lead:
1. Yourself
2. Other individuals in the business
3. Groups and teams in the business
4. Business organizations
5. As well as all functions within the business organization.

Many of the Library's materials about business, leadership and management are adapted from this book. Just click on the title of the book above to see the Index and Table of Contents.

Field Guide to Leadership and Supervision With Nonprofit Staff: by Carter McNamara, published by Authenticity Consulting, LLC.
Includes step-by-step guidelines, tips and tools customized for personnel in nonprofits to effectively lead:
1. Yourself
2. Other individuals in the nonprofit
3. Groups and teams in the nonprofit
4. Nonprofit organizations
5. As well as all functions within the nonprofit organization.

Many of the Library's materials about nonprofit leadership and management are adapted from this book. Just click on the title of the book above to see the Index and Table of Contents.

The following books are recommended because of their highly practical nature and often because they include a wide range of information about this Library topic. To get more information about each book, just hover your cursor over the image of the book. A "bubble" of information will be displayed. You can click on the title of the book in that bubble to get more information, too.