Given my career background in IT, I still get excited with some of the new technology-creations people come up with and especially get intrigued when things kind-of mesh together so naturally. This means that somewhere behind the code, some really amazing brains created this ~ and this where Social Networking falls-in. Social Networking for me – is a well laid-out map linking (meshing) everyone together in its own mysterious way (for us developers we probably have more of an understanding of what’s needed to make this happen – but in the end; you either enjoy it or you don’t).
Social Networking is still very primitive, from my point of view, I can see Social Networking moving technology in a whole new direction and potentially changing how people interact with the www (Internet) fairly similar to how Google changed how people searched online.
Whether you are new or old to social networking tool it’s important to continue to stay aware of your online presence – being accessible 24/7 to the world. [Unless you’ve made all necessary security adjustments to prevent this – and still this point could be an argued.]
Either way, here are some basic guidelines to review for those of us who have online presence:
#1 Is this Business or Personal?
When you decide to embark within the social networking bandwagon you’ll first need to have an email address. Be careful here which email address you use to register – your registration email choice can have an impact on your business-ethics, or could pretty much potentially cost you your job!
If you are using a social networking site (of your choice) for personal usage, however if you choose to use a work-related email address, just ensure that you are aware of your organization’s policies and/or verdict on Social Networking usage at work guidelines (if any). Pleading the “naive” card doesn’t always ring well with companies – know what your boundaries are and use them wisely.
If your aim is to use social networking sites for personal use – then by all means, use your own personal email address and if you don’t have one, get one! There are countless sites out there that you can register yourself with that will provide you with FREE email access.
Other points to ponder related to #1 is to do some house-cleaning. Once your account is created and that you now have an online presence, not just right now but continuously proceed with doing some house-cleaning of this account. Dust doesn’t accumulate as quickly online as it does in my living room but it can get messier faster since I “kind-of” really don’t see it?! What am I talking about?…
If you don’t want to start receiving (or increase your already existing) SPAM email counts, you’ll have to decide what it is you wish to share with the public (a.k.a. the entire world).
First decide if you wish to make your email address visible on this new social networking site, and if you do – should it be visible to everyone or only to selected few?
Second – go through your social networking site’s settings / options and review all of its settings and options. I’m 100% sure you’ll find some very interesting things here; similar to when you decide to move your sofa to do some “real” cleaning… you always find ‘stuff’ here don’t-cha?!
OK so what to look for… check for setting that will send you email notifications. Do you really want to receive an email every time someone interacts with your social networking site? If not, then by all means – disable these unnecessary notifications! Especially if you’ve registered using your work-related email account! Hello! IT will be knocking on your door (or cubicle) anytime – your dozen if not hundreds of notifications (which are basically spam messages) are taking up room in the email system and is using up what we IT people call useless bandwidth….You’re going to be checking your social networking site anyways so why have redundant messages telling you the same thing you’ll be seeing when you log-in to the site?!
There are countless other sections I could drill into but once you open-up this beast take time to tame it and you’ll be pleasantly surprised at just how manageable social networking sites can be – but don’t just open this section up once! Return to your options; settings; security; privacy… whatever it’s call – fairly frequently. I make it a challenge to check my settings on my sites at least every 3 months (quarterly).
#2 Friends / Associates
Choose wisely! Friends are the links between you and people. This is what Social Networking sites are based on. The more the merrier (for them!).
What should you do and/or not do?
Well first the obvious – don’t go “hitting” on your friends’ friends. This is a “no-no”. If you wouldn’t flirt with random people when walking through the mall, then why would things be any different when you are hiding behind your social network profile? This goes the same for “poking” – please “poke” carefully. Sometimes what you think is done in good fun or what you think is a simple “Poke – Hey, how’s it going?”, could turn High-School drama on you in a split second!
Another area is counts – some people think it’s important that they have a high number of Friends in their list. They know everyone!…sure you do!? That’s why you’re at home Saturday night “creeping” people’s profiles… [sarcasm gets the better part of me at times, I don’t stop it cause I like it!…what’s that old saying, “If you can’t take the heat then get out of the kitchen!”]
Just because you and Jo-Blow like the same song on YouTube doesn’t mean you should request him to become your friend. If you think you’ve got more than ‘a song’ in common and would like to ‘get-to-know-each-other’ then send him a private message. This way, if he chooses to ignore you (which is fine – really cause liking the song “Don’t-cha wish your girlfriend was hot like me” doesn’t mean he’s looking?!). Sending someone a private message puts the “ball” in their court and presents them with the choice of either “playing” or “turning down” the opportunity. In your private message you can then also state what your intentions are (ex. common interests; live in the same community; participate some similar sports; go to the same University maybe we could meet up for lunch and discuss Philosophy?…).
#3 Think Before you Post!
Back in my day, people didn’t just shout out (yes out-loud) randomly “statuses” during class, or at work, or while walking down the street!? Today, social media sites and social networking sites make “shouting” so easy that it’s almost an obsession. “I need to tell people what I’m doing/thinking right now cause my pose online is just dying to know!”… ya I sit here waiting for you to update your status… sure if I were stalking you! Yes it’s nice to get updates and get interaction with people ’cause that’s what “social networking” is all about, however choose your messages wisely, and especially how you wish to share them. Best SMM Panel