Networking On and Offline 

Many small business people miss having colleagues nearby to talk to about their business problems and possibilities. They attend a few national or regional conferences and conventions, but on a day-to-day basis they go it alone.
The Internet offers them access to organizations and technologies that will help them stay in touch with developments in their field and in contact with personal and professional support groups.

Professional Organizations
The Internet is the online home of a number of business and professional organizations. Most of them have websites that offer a variety of services for both members and guests. Members may be able to read newsletter archives, subscribe to email alerts, participate in online forums, and be listed in niche directories. Guests are likely to enjoy fewer benefits but may get a feel for what membership would offer.

Where can you find these organizations on the Internet? The best place to start is Yahoo Business and Economy: Business to Business: Small Business Information: Organizations. In addition, SmartBrief scans trade and industry news and delivers free summaries via email.

Social Networking

Social networking is about building links between individuals and organizations. Correspondence, conversations, and transactions are the building blocks of social networking. Each time you pass out a business card, add a new subscriber to your newsletter, or sell a product or service you are extending or strengthening your network. The more people you know, the more you can do.

Source: Scott Hutcheson, Galaxy III Presentation (pdf)

Web 2.0 transformed the Internet and made it a much more social environment. The "wisdom of the crowd" is the basis for social bookmarking and social shopping. Finding and connecting with friends and colleagues, near and far away, gave rise to social networking sites. Participating in activities with others made shared calendars more important and led to creating new ways to meet off-line as well as online.

We are social beings and much of current technology reflects the need to extend and strengthen our connections to family, friends, and co-workers. "Friending" is a new term for actively meeting people online and adding them to our roster of social contacts.

The websites are more than just words and images, they are gathering places where people share their ideas, concerns, passions, and opinions freely. Even traditional websites are being transformed by adding interactive elements.

Social Media

The social web engages internet users and encourages them to explore the media and their own special interests. It is a part of everyday life, so much so, that people cannot imagine life without it.

A Universal McCann study of 17,000 active internet users between 16 and 54 in 29 countries found that social media has grown in popularity wherever the internet is available. Active users are on the internet daily or every other day.

The study defines social media as "online applications, platforms and media which aim to facilitate interaction, collaboration and the sharing of content." In essence social media is whatever makes it possible for internet users to communicate and share with one another. Like traditional media, the web has been transformed by going beyond text to incorporate multimedia. The internet is now a media-rich medium.

Source: Universal-McCann's Social Media Tracker Wave 3 (PDF)

The Universal McCann study includes some surprising results. Although it should come as no surprise, the popularity watching online video clips is amazing. If you want to engage internet users, a short video may be the best way to do it. Short videos can spread virally and attract visitors to your website.

Internet users in the United States have been slow to adopt some aspects of social media. For example, globally 45.1% of active internet users have downloaded a podcast but only 29.5% of active internet users in the United States have done so.

Social Media Sites

There is an ever expanding array of ways to share content online and every small business should try to use at least a few of them to get their message out. Some of the most popular social media sites include:

• Social Networks: Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace
• Blogs: Blogger, WordPress.com, WordPress.org, Typepad, Scrapblog
• Widgets: Google Gadgets, SproutBuilder, Widgetbox
• Microblogging: Tumblr, Twitter
• Photo sharing: Flickr, Photobucket, Slide, SlideShare
• Video sharing: YouTube, Google Video, Blinkx, MSN Video, VideoJug, Yahoo! Video
• Podcasts: iTunes, Juice, Odeo
• Online TV: Hulu, Joost
• News: Alltop, Digg, Reddit
• Virtual Worlds: Second Life, There.com, Webkinz
• RSS readers: Google Reader, Bloglines
• Bookmarking: Delicious, StumbleUpon
• Links Aggregator: All My Favs
• Start pages: iGoogle, Only2Clicks, Pageflakes, Net Vibes
• Wiki: knol, Wetpaint, Wikipedia
• Event calendars: Upcoming, Meetup
• Email: Gmail, Yahoo Mail, Hotmail

Social Networks

Online social networks can be defined as:

• Communities of internet users with common interests
• Online versions of clubs, discussion groups, support groups
• Places to meet new people and make new contacts
• Platforms for organizing internet and social activities

No matter how you define them, social networks are where the real world intersects with the online world. Social networks are a global phenomenon with over 272 million users. The social network universe is a fractured one: different social networking applications are popular in different parts of the world. In the United States the most popular social networks are: MySpace, Facebook, and LinkedIn. Myspace is the largest network and appeals to young people, Facebook began as a site for college students but now attracts a broader demographic of adult users, and LinkedIn is closest to traditional business networking.

A typical social network site:

• Costs nothing to join or use
• Encourages user to complete profiles which can be viewed by other users
• Offers photo, video, and link sharing
• Maintains a list of your contacts (friends)
• Includes blogging capability and rss feeds
• Features widget or mini web applications

LinkedIn requires resume building and this serves as a basis for connecting with other professionals in the same or related fields.

Most small businesses should join one or more social networks starting with Facebook. They may want to consider also joining LinkedIn, a social network for people who are serious about their careers.

There are scores of social networking sites that appeal to different populations or focus on specific issues:

• Boomers: eons, Growing Bolder
• Foodies: Group Recipes, Open Source Food
• Goal setting: 43 Things
• GPS hikers: EveryTrail
• Ethnic groups: Black Planet
• Health: Disaboom, I'm Too Young For This!, PatientsLikeMe
• Multimedia: Flickr, Flixster, imeem, Last.fm
• Nonprofit: Razoo, Care2
• Readers and thinkers: Good Reads, LibraryThing, Gather
• Regional: Tribe, NetParty, Yelp
• Small business: JumpUP, Constant Contact User Community, Dell 360, Entrepreneur Connect, Business Exchange

This is just a sample of what is available. You can also build your own social network at Ning. Ning hosts more than 500,000 social networks and over 65% of them are currently active. The Ning website lists some of the reasons for creating a social network including:

• Interact with your fans: Promote upcoming shows, share recent recordings and hear what your fans are saying
• Raise awareness: Get the word out on important issues and causes and inspire others to take action
• Connect with event attendees: Start the meet-and-greet before you even arrive, and share photos and videos when you get home
• Create community with customers: Generate excitement, answer questions and announce new items
• Share tricks of the trade: Admire successful projects and poll other experts for advice
• Appreciate independent artists: Find inspiration in fellow artists - get exposure for your work
• Build your career: Make connections and receive direction from seasoned pros
• Find new travel destinations: Talk with world travelers and discover unexpected must-visit destinations
• Inspire & educate: Learn new techniques and mentor aspiring amateurs
• Share insights & find support: Join together with friends who are facing the same issues

The basic Ning service is free and includes member profiles, interest groups, discussion forum, Facebook integration, event listings, media players, and viral widgets. Premium services include control of ads, increased storage and bandwidth, custom domain name, and removal of Ning promotion links.

Getting started with social networks:

Everyone wants your contact list: When you join a social network, it may ask for access to your contact list in order to jumpstart your list of friends. Think twice about giving access to your personal data (and your contact list is personal data), and remember not everyone wants to be your friend on every social network. Aunt Mabel and Grandpa Henry might like to get email from you but they may not know what to make of your MySpace or Facebook page.

Microsoft, Google, and Yahoo! already have the biggest set of email and startpage accounts and most likely will be expanding to social networks in the future. Remember online applications change frequently and it's your responsibility to stay informed about the tools you use online.

Recommended resource: Social Networking in Plain English

Social Networking Offline

As much as we might enjoy and profit from networking online, sometimes we need to meet people face-to-face. There are a number of online event calendars like: Yahoo's Upcoming, Eventful, and Events.org. Most of the events listed on these sites take place in large cities. AllConferences.com is a directory of conferences, conventions, trade shows, exhibits, workshops, events and business meetings.

Meetups are offline meetings of liked-minded people facilitated by the internet. Meetup.com lists thousands of Meetups in large and medium size cities about business, finance, hobbies, blogging, networking, games, recreation, sports, and social activities. Most Meetups are free and open to anyone who is interested in the topic or activity. If you live near a large city or will be visiting one, you may want to check Meetup to see if there is a Meetup of interest to you.

Virtual Worlds

Combine role playing strategy games and social networking and you are likely to end up with virtual worlds. The ultimate virtual world is Second Life founded in 2003. After downloading the client software users create graphic representations or avatars. Second life has a complex economy that uses Linden Dollars (L$) to imitate real world transactions. Linden Dollars can be purchased with real dollars and used to buy land, set-up businesses, and engage in commercial activities.

Although it is hard to believe, there are a number of people who have made a good living catering to the residents of Second Life and buying and selling goods and services there. Perhaps the most famous resident is Ailin Graef who was able to accumulate a small fortune as a real estate speculator on Second Life. In 2007, she donated a small business center to be used as the nonprofit commons on Second Life. Keep in mind that she made millions (L$) dealing in virtual properties that only exist online.

Second Life has been used for global real-time educational conferences, music festivals and art galleries. It has also been used to participate in scientific experiments and to follow the progress of the construction of a real hospital.

Virtual worlds typically include:

• Graphic representations (avatars) that reflect user profiles
• Multiple simultaneous users
• Shared space or commons
• Emphasis on spatial aspects of shared space including rooms, land, islands, topography, buildings, directions - all the normal physical elements that make up the real world transformed into virtual space
• Extensive and varied communications systems
• Immersive environments including 3-D representations

A virtual world is a platform for user action and creativity. Like other social media, virtual worlds develop with use.

Popular virtual worlds include:

• Second Life - the most popular virtual world
• ERepublik - a massive online social strategy game with few graphic elements
• Club Penguin - Disney's virtual world for children
• kidthing - a Dr. Seuss learning environment
• There.com - a virtual world for teenagers
• Webkinz - for the 6-13 year old group

Learning to find your way around a virtual world takes a considerable investment of time but relatively little actual cash. For most small businesses, virtual worlds are something to explore as time and resources permit.