Top 11 Ways My Friends, Family & the Famous are Using Social Networking
I forget sometimes that online Social Networking isn’t commonplace for a lot of people. If you don’t tweet, haven’t MySpaced, Stumbled Upon, Dugg or even Facebooked, here are some good ways “regular folks” use social networking to make their lives easier, better, more transparent and more interesting.
1. My sister Kristen posted a video of her daughter Madeleine when she lost her first tooth (declaring that the tooth fairy was coming and that she is “very sneaky”). So damn cute and we’re all happy we can take part in the little things even if we’re not next door.
2. A mother I’ve volunteered with at our schools for years updated her profile on Facebook from Married to Separated. She’s more acquaintance than friend, but someone I’ve known for many years and our daughters are involved in many of the same activities. Knowing she was experiencing a life change from Facebook was better than me blurting out that I hoped she and her husband would be at my Holiday party. Though it may not be optimal, life is busy, and having a bit of knowledge about friends who aren’t in your inner circle can be enormously helpful.
3. My friend is starting a new business. We used Twitter to find out who is taking part in the conversation about the solution his business provides. Go to Twitter, create an account, complete your profile. Go to search.twitter.com, enter the keywords and phrases that apply to your business or interest and follow the people you find interesting (if they think you’re interesting, they might follow you back).
4. My girlfriend sent me updates via Twitter during the recent snow storms to keep us alerted to their changes in travel plans.
5. My mom is going to create a Facebook account after she saw some fun photos of us in Hawaii. Now we can share photos and comments more easily than we did when we emailed pics.
6. I sent a picture from my Birthday Brunch to my girlfriends who aren’t on Facebook. Easier than sending thank you postcards (though I haven’t entirely abandoned that tradition).
7. My girlfriend Stumbled a review and info about Gran Torino and shared with me, I went that night. Fabulous! Stumble Upon is a bookmarking site that allows people to give thumbs up or down on a site. Great way to get the skinny on a lot of web content.
8. My President Elect (and First Lady) used Twitter to share information about the Presidential Inauguration.
9. My daughter looked up restaurant reviews on Yelp to help us to decide on a Thai restaurant in Portland.
10. An acquaintance and wine lover sent me a review of a Walla Walla wine he loved because he saw a Syrah review I had placed on Corkd (an online social network for wine aficionados). There are social networks for a ton of topics (from wine drinking, to kayaking, to knitting to scrapbooking). Match your interests with an online social network.
11. My son finally accepted my friend request on Facebook (then promptly disparaged me for commenting on his wall-the online social networking equivalent of your kids asking you not to hug them in public). Okay, online social networking doesn’t work in every situation, but it can be enormously helpful (and easy).
Don’t be intimidated. You don’t need to be a technical wizard to join online social networks.
So forget your preconceived notion of social networking being for tech geeks (it’s not). Choose a site, complete your profile, start interacting and see how it works for you.