Where Do You Belong?: Choosing the right social networking site

I began this journey by reading The Facebook Era by Clara Shih. The book provided a rich history of the social web and served as a great starting point for my research. The coming blog posts will be about topics I found interesting and important throughout my read and will begin with Chapter 1.

Like many first chapters of books, Chapter 1, The Fourth Revolution, is an introduction. In this case, to social networking.

According to Shih, there are more than 750 million people worldwide who use social networking sites. As this online network has continued to grow, people have begun to use these sites as their primary means of communication.

Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are three of the most common social networking sites. Each of these sites functions differently and can help you, or your business, achieve something different. Shih suggests the site, or sites, you choose to be a part of depend “on what you are looking to get out of being on a social networking site” and in many cases “the answer might be that you need to be on all three, each for different reasons and perhaps with different levels of investment.”

• Facebook helps you connect with friends and family and build your personal relationships.
• Twitter gives a brief snapshot of the happenings in your daily life and “is heavily used by media and celebrity personalities.”
• LinkedIn is catered towards professionals and allows you to build up your professional network.

My recommendation is to look create goals for yourself, or your company, and see which social networking site will help you accomplish it. Some goals could be connecting with your family while away at college or helping your customers gain a better understanding of your services. Either way, one or more of these sites can help you accomplish them.

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