TRENDS: Ways to network successfully

2009/07/17

Chandra Devi Renganayar

IF you use the Internet, chances are you are in a social network or two.

According to ComScore, more than 600 million active users frequent social networks, blogging and photo sharing sites.
A study conducted by Synovate of 15- to 24-year-olds in Asia commissioned by Microsoft found that young Asians are spending an average of almost five hours a day online. This number goes up to nearly seven hours in countries such as Singapore (6.8 hours), Taiwan (6.8 hours) and Malaysia (6.7 hours).
But if you have not jumped on the social networking bandwagon, here are some tips to help you become a successful social butterfly online.

Be selective
There are more social networks out there than you can imagine, and there’s no way you will have the time to be involved in all of them.

Explore some of the key choices on the Web, such as Facebook, Ning, LinkedIn, Twitter, De.li.cious, Flickr, Friendster and Picasa Web.
Then ask yourself: What do I want to get out of this? Do I want to make friends? Do I want to promote my music or art? Do I just want a platform for sharing ideas?
If you want to do all of the above, do consider Windows Live home page, Facebook, MySpace or Friendster.

Stay focused

If you have chosen to sign up with more than one social network, signing in to all of them daily to keep track of the latest updates is likely to wear you out.

Who are you?
People like to put a face to a name. Put up an eye-catching photo of yourself and share some details about yourself on your profile. But overdoing it might just earn you a cyber-stalker or two.
So be smart about the personal information you put out there and manage your privacy settings well.

Stay active
Make sure you engage your friends regularly and take part in discussions, update your status and give your two cents’ worth every now and then.
You don’t want to drop off the face of the online universe. On the flip side, don’t overload your friends with links, messages, comments and content or you will be deemed a spammer.

Have fun!
Social networking should be fun. Keep it simple!
Aggregating your social networks is a great start. After all, this is about making friends, socialising and sharing interests.