Summer 2008 - Marketing Dimensions from Felber & Felber Marketing and BIG MOVE ANNOUNCEMENT

	Summer 2008

This Issue • Other Issues • Subscribe • Felber & Felber Marketing

LinkedIn, MySpace, Facebook, Oh My!

By Kathryn Landers
In our previous newsletter, I broke down the fundamentals of blogging. (In case you missed it, click here for a Blogging 101 resource.) As promised, I will attempt to explain social networking, break down the pros and cons and even offer some guidance to beginners in this and future newsletters.
With the rise of social networking sites, many young adults are left glued to their computers with many older adults scratching their head. What is so alluring about these sites that cause such an addiction?

In the mid-90's, websites such as Classmates.com® and SixDegrees.com were formed as a way to stay in touch with old classmates and meet friends of friends. SixDegrees.com was shut down in 2000 and allowed another similar social networking site, Friendster®, to gain popularity a few years later. Here, friends were able to "connect" with their friends and invite more people to the website. This site had a poor screening method, allowing many users to create fictitious profiles, causing thousands to question the validity of Friendster.

In late 2002, LinkedIn® was born. This site is a networking site geared toward working professionals, allowing users to add contacts and include their professional accomplishments. LinkedIn allows you to recommend your contacts, thus enhancing the power of networking. Plaxo and Ryze are also similar professional networking services, but their combined 15.5 million users is still overshadowed by the astounding 22 million registered users of LinkedIn alone – including all of us, check it out!

In 2003, Tom Anderson of California launched the social networking giant MySpace.com®. Tom created a space where high school and college students can share photos, journals, music and even find friends you lost touch with for years. MySpace exploded with more than 40 million users in only a few years and now over 100 million registered users worldwide use this social networking giant.

Facebook®, another social networking site initially targeting college students, was created in 2004 by Harvard dorm roommates and immediately began an all out war against MySpace. Shortly after its launch, Facebook opened registration to all age groups and added various application abilities encouraging user participation and fun. Applications like "Scrabulous" (play Scrabble online – possible lawsuit still pending) allow for additional interaction with other users. Presently, Facebook has over 70 million registered users.

Everyone will find different features of these sites attractive for different reasons. For instance, Rob, Bruce and Michelle enjoy LinkedIn because they are heavily involved in networking. Personally, I enjoy MySpace because of the multi-interaction capabilities.

What are the pros?

Ease. In every case of social networking sites, the ease of staying connected is the main attraction. Instead of calling everyone a few times a week, users can log in and stay caught up electronically.

Showing off. Users have an opportunity to showcase their talents. LinkedIn and MySpace both offer many areas to highlight strengths.

Networking. Just in searching through the contacts of your network, there are endless possibilities of potential introductions. If that weren't easy enough, they are only a few clicks away.

What are the cons?

Loss of personal touch. Socially speaking, picking up the phone and calling someone or an actual handshake will always trump anything electronic.

Addiction. Just like with any new toy, time flies when you are having fun. Be careful not to get lost in it and don't play at work.

Validity. Anyone can say or be anything online. As I have cautioned before, check your sources before referencing them.

What is my advice?

Try it. All of these sites offer free registration and usage.

Watch what you say. Putting too much information out into the public is avoidable and very necessary.

Make yourself private. Most all social networking sites offer some degree of privacy. LinkedIn, MySpace and Facebook offer almost complete privacy from users outside of your contact list.

In our next newsletter I will diver further into social networking and the benefits of blogging. I will personally guide you through the steps in how to set up your own blog. Also, I will compare the differences between the popular blogs available considering your audience and need.

Contact Kathryn Landers at 330.963.3664 or KathrynLanders@felberandfelber.com.

This Issue • Other Issues • Subscribe • Felber & Felber Marketing