I guess I didn’t work it well. All I got were people sending me invitations asking me to pet and feed their fluffy pets and play games.
I cancelled my facebook.
I know it’s big business, but I just can’t stand that facebook.

do you have a fluffy pet Jim?? :-))

Hey Tania -

I had the SAME PROBLEMS when I first started using it and felt like I was a teenager! After I read about how to treat Facebook like a great tool that it is, it has been working wonders for me! Sitesd like My Space are much more geared towards kids and FaceBook and Linked In are more for college age and up. I have found many people i know on these sites and some of them are quite accomplished and in very professional positions! There is a book called Secrets of Social Media Marketing by Paul Gillin and i just finished reading it. Great book if you want to learn how to leverage the power of these sites…

Oh, no fluffy pets for me :)

I think I’ll pick that book up and give it a read.
thanks Jim

Hi Jim,

My 20th HS reunion is next year and they are using facebook to find all our classmates. I wasn’t really into it at first, but now I am seeing the power it has to bring people together!

I agree that MySpace is for kids and that facebook is a more mainstream way to network.

I just use it now to keep in touch with friends and family and haven’t used it for business yet.

I too just signed up for facebook, I had stayed away from it because I have had a myspace account forever and didnt want to have to check another, but I now see how many more people seem to be useing face book vs myspace (I guess it was time for me to grow up, lol) Anyway, I’m hooked…so thanks alot networking world, there’s just not enough hours in the day:)

tania, i agree with you…i just ignore the fluffy pet requests…but i did get in touch with a friend from grade school that i have not seen since 8th grade, and found out she lives 15 minutes away and that we have kids the same age….it was great to see her again….

i do like facebook for my friends to see the most recent photos of me and the family….however, it feels strange to have my professional contacts able to see those photos as well (even though the halloween photos this year are too cute with my little green faced witch and my prickly pear ghost of a daughter)

Hi Jim!

I must say I have joined quiet a few social networks and they all have been truly beneficial to my business..so much support and good resources. But as Tania stated it can be a little overwhelming with all the Spam mail!

that’s it lisa! Overwhelming lol

I MIGHT try it again to see if I can ignore it all like Eva does.

i’ve just accepted ‘deleting’ as a way of life…

Facebook is good for friends and fans, but certainly not for business. Myspace is pretty much good for nothing except laughing at the most tacky web pages since the early ‘90s. LinkedIn is probably the best for business, thought at this point after 3 years, it seems only good as a contact manager, not extremely valuable as a business generator. Google Search cannot be beat there, at least for my business. I think I’ve brought in at least $2M worth of business from contacts received from paid search ads. I think I only spend about $1500-2000 a year on it too.

Mark
www.3dyn.com

I agree that it’s not good to mix personal photos with business like that in facebook. I like LinkedIn but I think you have to pay after you have 10 contacts or something like that plus they don’t have pictures and it’s not as dynamic as facebook for keeping you up to speed on things.

My team actually has an awesome idea for professional networking, but we don’t have the resousrces to put it together. It would truly change the way people do business now.

Wow…lots of great thoughts here! I am not a complete expert on this matter but since I have been heavily involved in it and been studying it intensely for months I can say a few things I am very comfortable with:

- Facebook and other sites (not so much My Space), Twitter, and Digg are POWERFUL tools for small businesspeople and they can indeed be very professional.

When I first created profiles on these and other sites, I got the same spam and “winks and nudges” and other silly things kids often do on these sites but you can create a much more private environment by disallowing these features to be added to your account. For example, you can set your account to not show any posts to your wall so if someone writes something that is not “professional” it will never be seen by other Facebook members. And yes you can delete those things you dont like. You can also post pictures of your friends, family, etc and as a busienss person there is nothing wrong with it. In fact, it “humanizes” you and I can tell you I have received business simply because someone felt a bit of an emotional connection. Bottom line is that I spent a lot of time really learning how to use these sites to my advantage and sites like FAcebook are a big lead generator for me. I agree that google ad words can be effective but you pay for all of those clicks and social networking is free for the most part. if you are an inventor there is no better way to reach millions of people potentially and so social networking via websites simply cannot be ignored any longer! If you take the time, do your homework (just like all other phases of inventing), and get to know the ins and outs of how these sites can work for you it can lead to lots of great exposure and potential business. There is a reason that over a hundred million people are on these sites – and it is not just to find an old friend or to keep in touch. The smart small businesses and individuals are all trying to figure out how to drive attention, leads, and business from these and the other sites that will be created in coming months and years. There are endless studies that show how so much of advertising monies are shifting away from print and onto social networking sites. Big companies like Nike, Coke, and so many others get it so lets follow. Get on board and be a part of what the future will be or surely you may get left behind.

oh that is so true. My husband( media planner) places a large number of his ads on facebook now, and google ads and banners. That’s what the companies want.
It’s changing so fast that if you don’t change with it, you will be left behind like you say.
arrrrrgh…I forgot about the pokes and nudges!

i guess the other option for me is to create a facebook account for my business as well….this might be a good option….just like i have different email accounts for different purposes….

I think that’s a good idea creating a seperate business facebook account. You can set up blocks that won’t allow snowballs or drinks to be passed around and you can block people. So that really could be a cool tool and it’s FREE!!!!!!!!!!

I think the only drawback to facebook would be you have to have a facebook account to look at other’s facebook’s. Whereas if you have a websit, anyone can just drop in and they don’t have to be your friend or have an account. Some people don’t want to be bothered with all that.

so if one was to have a website and put that on their facebook, do they have to go and visit everyone and be friends with everyone to get the website addy passed around? Or can you just blast your info somewhere.

As you can tell, I didn’t have a lot of patience and quit it.

You cant just “blast info” or you will be red-flagged and soon enough be locked out of the site for spamming. The art is in finding out what you can do and what you cannot do. Get that book I mentioned earlier it is a great resource. You do need to be come friends with people but you can join groups who can have hundreds or thousands of members…but it takes time to post on these sites like you do here…

ok, I think I’ll read before trying it again, or I might get frustrated…again.
We went to get the book last night, but left the title behind on the counter. I’ll have it before the weekend.

Jim,

Agreed, some businesses can do very well with facebook. I know lots of people in the radio and music industries, and entertainment can be promoted quite well with facebook. For someone like me, in the product design and engineering world, it would be less powerful. I could see selling a product of some sort however.

Mark

What about Yahoo Group?

Yahoo groups is pretty good too. Lots of inventors on there…

Let me resurrect this topic: is there anyone who is good at social networking and has the time to do it for someone else?