Social networking is like forums on steroids. These types of sites offer more than just forum posting. You can do just about anything from posting and watching videos, to joining and posting in groups or forums. You can even listen to music and connect with new friends, business associates, and even your favorite authors, actors, or bands. In fact, with general social networking sites, you can connect with people who have just about any interest you can imagine.

However, with the popular social networking sites, each has different ways you can interact with others. Below is a short list of the top social networking sites and some of the things you can do on each of these sites. These are some of the highest trafficked sites on the internet. Not only can these sites contribute to you finding others to network with, but you can use it as part of your overall search engine strategy.

My Space is, of course, the most popular social networking site on the planet. This site offers a wide variety of things you can do, but you should be careful in overtly promoting your business.

Here you can create a fully customizable profile, blog, join groups and forums, as well as submit videos and free classifieds. You can also network with people interested in just any topic, and you can connect with your favorite authors, actors, and bands.

Yahoo 360 is Yahoo’s version of social networking. Yahoo is the most popular site on the internet and has been for years. Unlike the MSN and Google versions of social networking, Yahoo 360 is part of the Yahoo site, a subdomain.

Here you can create a profile, blog, make announcements, and use the bulletin feature similar to the one on My Space. It’s also easier to find friends because you can import your Yahoo address book, as well as your Yahoo Messenger friends. If you choose to show them, you can also display your groups on your page to let others know what you’re involved in, as well as display your friends. Want to write a review about something? You can log in and write reviews on just about anything, and it will be added to your Yahoo 360 page.

Live Spaces is part of the Windows Live network, and it’s MSN’s version of social networking. With Live Spaces, you get to tell others about who you are, what your interests are and make friends. You can blog all about your interests, as well as display all kinds of things on your profile, like your favorite RSS feeds. You can also share files, as well as your favorite photos.

This site gives you a little more control over your information, as well as your ability to organize it, and you can also earn money from Amazon ads that are displayed on your page.

Orkut is Google’s version of social networking. Unlike My Space, Yahoo, and Live Spaces, in order to view others’ profiles, you have to become a member. Orkut does allow you to do a lot of things on its site, including creating a full profile, as well as connecting with others through communities and messaging. You can also add your favorite RSS feeds and lists.

Although to me Live Spaces has the best page structure, Facebook has the most things you can do. With thousands different widgets you can add to your profile, this site makes building a profile a breeze. Whether you want to display your blog, or your websites, this site has a widge for you. Many of the elements you can include are also visual, like displaying pictures of your sites, favorites, etc. Like Orkut, you have to join to connect, as well as view profiles.

Other high traffic general social networking sites also include Hi5 and Friendster. Each allows you to create profiles, and you can connect with others.

Regardless of whether you want to network for fun or business, at least one of these sites has something for you.

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The mistake many people make in marketing on social networking sites is to not familiarizing themselves with the site before jumping in to participate. Each social networking site is different, and each site has certain requirements, as well as certain things they allow and disallow.

Prior to jumping in and participating, you’ll want to familiarize yourself with the site you are on so that you can get the most out of the site.

Here are the steps you need to follow:

1. Read the Terms of Service.
Again, each site is different, and certain sites allow certain things while others don’t. Read these terms first to find out what you can and can’t do. I’ve found that by respecting the terms of service of a site, not only will you get more out of the site, but your marketing efforts will be more effective.

2. Study the help section.
The help section will often contain information on the different features on the site. Some sites offer free classifieds, some don’t. Some offer instant messaging, while others don’t. Look for the features that you want to make sure that they’re actually offered.

3. Look for opportunities to promote yourself.
As I mentioned in the last tip, some sites offer free classifieds. You can study these sections to see what you can offer. Some will offer video, and you can create videos to promote yourself and your offerings.

Some of these sites offer blogs, and with your own blog, you have a platform you can use to talk about what you care about. Beware though: don’t just write reviews about how great your business is, or something like that. Provide real content: reviews, articles, industry trends. In other words, offer content that will make others want to take an interest in your business and what you sell.

Other sites, like Facebook, offer all kinds of tools and widgets you can use in your profile to promote your products and services, as well as promote your favorite books or other resources.

Almost all of these sites have communities of one type or another, whether they’re forums, groups, or both.

4. Browse through the forums and groups.
Depending on what topic you are interested in, you should be able to find forums or groups to discuss your topic. On some sites, these two functions are combined. Sites like Facebook call them networks.

What you can post on a particular group or forum will depend on the topic, as well as the rules for that forum or group. You should always look for posting instructions within the group or forum to see if there are any additional rules when posting. This way, you avoid getting spammed, or worse, banned, for posting the wrong thing.

You may also want to learn to write a little HTML, or at least enough to create your own links. Some of these sites will format your HTML for you, but with others, if you don’t create your hyperlink, it will simply be a plain link others can’t click on.

Avoid creating me too posts. These won’t get you any fans. Make sure you read the forum or group first to make sure you don’t post about topics that have already been covered.

The important thing to remember is that once you understand how a site works, get out there and participate. Then, when others get to know you, they’re more likely to want to do business with you.

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Every social networking site is different. What you can and can’t do will vary depending on the site.

Your first step, prior to creating your profile is to find one or more networks that interest you. General networks include: MySpace, Orkut, Yahoo! 360, FriendFinder, FriendWise, Facebook, and Classmates. There are plenty of others, but you may want to check these out first to see if they offer potential friends and business associates you might be interested in connecting with.

The advantage of these particular networks is that they do have a lot of people. The disadvantage is that these sites have a lot of people, and it will take you time to find what you are looking for.

If joining a general network isn’t of interest to you, then you’ll need to find a topic specific network. You can do this by searching for your topic combined with the keywords network, social networking, etc. Put your search term in quotes and you can get tighter results. Choose two or three networks. I wouldn’t recommend choosing more because social networking can be somewhat time consuming. Use a valid email address as you will need to confirm your account. You can always change this later, but if you want to receive account notifications, you’ll want to use an email account you actually use.

Once you’ve chosen your network, or networks, your next step is to start setting up your account.

Your first step in setting up your account is to add a picture. You will get far more friend requests if you add a picture to your profile. If you’re promoting yourself for business, you want to use a photo that is somewhat professional. The picture you use will determine somewhat whether or not someone wants to join your friends list.

Your photo communicates the image you want to present. Impression is important, and you want to use your picture to help communicate why you are there.

Once you’ve added a photo, your next step should be to craft your title. On some sites this will be your name, but sites like My Space allow you to craft your own title to associate with your profile. If you are there to promote yourself for business, then you definitely want to include the keywords you want to associate with your business.

For example, if you sell travel services, then craft a title like: John Doe: Travel Agent. You could also use a short slogan. To help you craft the title that is right for you, browse other profiles on your topic and see what you find. Use what you find to help you create your own title.

Next, you’ll want to decide whether or not to include your full name or location. Depending on what you sell, you may want to include both, especially if you are interested in connecting with others in your area who are interested in what you are selling. If you’re there simply to make new friends, leave off your last name, and you may just want to include your state to protect your privacy.

Depending on the site, you may want to learn a little HTML so you can include links to your site. Be careful here because some sites don’t want, or allow commercial activity so you’ll need to exercise caution when adding this information.

Fill in your other interests. If you’re there for business, you’ll want to tell what kind of people you want to connect with and make sure that you let others know that you’re there for networking. Otherwise, you may get a lot of friend requests to connect with others that has nothing to do with what you are there for. Some sites will even allow you to add RSS feeds to your profile, allowing you to provide constantly updated content to your profile. If you have a blog or website with an RSS feed, you’ll definitely want to include your feed in your profile.

Once you’ve added the information you want to include in your profile, then get out there and start making new friends.

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There are millions of people who use social networking sites every day. In fact, the largest social networking site, My Space, boasts well over one hundred million users. Now I’m sure that not all of those users are active, or that this many people log onto the site every day, but this site still has a lot of users. It’s a great site to log onto if you really like meeting people, but if you don’t like the fast pace, it may not be for you.

If My Space isn’t your cup of tea though, there are still hundreds, probably thousands of other great social and business networking sites you can join. Depending on how you plan to use the site, you may need to search for these sites differently.

Now, if you want to find the most popular social networking sites online, the easiest way to do it is to go to Alexa and go through the lists of the top 500 websites.

You can choose sites by geographical location as Alexa offers sites by country. This way, if you’re more interested in networking in your own country, or your own language, you can find networking sites in your country or language.

These lists will only give you the most popular social networking sites, and a lot of different factors go into determining which sites are the most popular. Of course, traffic is a major factor in determining which sites make this list.

One thing to keep in mind here is that the top sites, like Google and Yahoo, both have their own version of social networking in Orkut and Yahoo 360. If you already have a Yahoo or Google account, then all you need to do is start signing up and getting started. MSN is slightly different in that it offers Live Spaces. These different sites allow yu to do different things so try them out and use them based on your preference. Other top sites besides My Space include Friendster, HI5 and Facebook.

If you’re not interested in the most popular, or you’re looking for more topic specific sites, then you should do a search on your favorite search engine.

From my experience, it was somewhat difficult to find good sites, especially business. (There was certainly a lot of press on the topic.) So, if you want to try finding good topical sites, try these different word combinations, as well as searching with and without quotes.

For example, if you’re looking for a networking site for pets, try searching for both pet networking or “pet networking”. (Using quotes will narrow your results.) You can also try terms like your topic plus social networking sites, social networking websites, and networking.

There is also a third way to find social networking sites. You can either talk to friends, family, or business associates to find out what sites they have joined. You might also consider joining networks based on where others in your field have joined. Because social networking is so popular right now, you may want to consider the recommendations of those in your field. The tricky thing about going on the recommendations of those you only know by reputation is that you may have to actually join a few networks and then search for your particular expert.

When searching for social networking sites, whether you do your own search or get recommendations from others, you shouldn’t have any trouble finding a number of sites The best part about social networking is that if you decide it isn’t for you, or you’re dissatisfied with the sites you’re on, you can always delete your account. There are also plenty of other social networking sites for you to choose from.

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Do you like meeting new people? Do you want to meet those who are interested in the same things you are? Do you want to connect with others?

Then social networking may be for you.

Social networking is somewhat like a forum on steroids. In addition to being able to meet new people and share information with them, you can also post blogs, videos, and other Web 2.0 content. Some of these sites even allow you to post free classified ads. The bonus to these sites is that they’re very popular and get a lot of traffic.

Before you decide to sign up for any of the social networking sites though, there are a few things you should consider.

First, you need to think about why these sites are so popular in the first place. These sites are a place where others can connect. Many people want to connect for different reasons. Some want to make new friends, find dates, and then there are those who want to find business partners or network with other business owners. After all, one of the few disadvantages to having your own home business is that it can be lonely at times working alone, and, if you live with family, they get tired of hearing about your business (ask my family LOL)

Now, if you’re a closet introvert, maybe you should consider promoting your business another way. Although these sites don’t require that you interact with others, you will see much better results if you’re out there getting to know others and sharing information. So, once you’ve decided whether or not you want to try social networking, you need to decide on what types of social networking sites you want to get involved in.

Although My Space is the largest, and the most popular social networking site on the internet, it may not be for you. Because this is a general networking site, there will be many different people there for many different reasons. It’s easy to get lost on this site.

Another issue with My Space is some of the content. When conducting a search, it’s a good idea to target your keywords as tightly as possible so that you find people, as well as the content you are looking for. It’s very time consuming to wade through unrelated profiles, and you’ll sometimes find plenty of those because so many people don’t correctly tag their profiles.

If My Space doesn’t appeal to you, there are others like Facebook, Friendster, Hi5, as well as plenty of topical social network sites, including politics, pets, business, christian, and others. Think carefully about what you want to accomplish on these sites, and this will make it easier for you to choose which sites to sign up for. If you like small groups better than large groups, or you want to develop deeper relationships, then definitely consider topical networks. Paid networks are also another option if you prefer a more exclusive network.

If you decide you really like networking, you may want to consider signing up for a combination of sites. Choose one or two general networking sites and then choose one or two topical sites. Try them out and see which ones you like best, as well as which ones work the best in helping you promote yourself, make new friends, or find your dream mate.

Want to learn how top marketers use social networking to expand their businesses? “< a href=”http://www.jingerjarrett.com/socialmarketing”>Social Marketing” teaches you how to easily bring in more profits in just a few minutes a day. Meet me on MySpace.

Jinger Jarrett is the author of “Internet Marketing for Free: The GUIDE.” (On Amazon).

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