Friendster, which was once upon a time one of the fastest growing social networks, recently announced that it was awarded another patent. The social networking patent is called “Method for Sharing Relationship Information Stored in a Social Network Database with Third Party Databases”.
This is the fifth social networking patent Friendster has been awarded. The first such patent was awarded in July of 2006.
Said Richard Kimber, Friendster’s CEO: “Friendster has continued to build and own a significant patent portfolio, since launching in 2002 as the first online social network.”
Today, Friendster has more than 110 million members. Though it’s regarded as a …read more

Well, that was fun, wasn’t it? In a twisted way, I probably got more out of September’s theme than y’all did. Social networking just isn’t my favorite part of being a freelancer, and I avoid it much more often than I should. So, September was a little kick in the tushie to start networking more, even if it makes me groan. And, I dare say, it hasn’t been all bad. September has brought me new friends, new work, and new procrastination addictions.
So what did we talk about in September? In case you missed any of the social networking posts, here’s …read more

StumbleUpon is the ultimate tool for web surfers. You add the toolbar to your web browser and whenever you’re bored, you can just click the button and land on a random website. It’s actually pretty ingenious, and I hope the developers are making a ton of money. You can, of course, customize your stumbling so that you only land on sites relevant to certain topics (like sports or business or cooking).
But the real draw to StumbleUpon for bloggers is that you can submit your own site’s posts. There’s no guarantee that you’ll become popular, but when you do, you’ll see …read more

Social networking is an ever-changing beast; I’ve said this before, and it will remain true as long as social networking exists. Changing so readily, it can be hard to keep up with how to best make use of social networking. Hell, I remember a time when LiveJournal was the blogging platform of choice and it was weird if anyone other than one of your friends commented on one of your posts.
Here’s what I’ve observed as far as social networking goes:

Social networking is getting faster. People don’t have time to write long posts, upload pictures, etc every single day. To keep …read more

Social networking can’t be boiled down into neat bullet points. It’s an ever-changing, growing beast that started as cocktail parties and business organizations and has now spread to pretty much take over the Internet. That’s not a bad thing, necessarily (though it can be from a privacy standpoint).
Regardless, there’s one part of social networking that I think many people overlook, and that’s commenting. Sometimes I feel like social networking sites are a bunch of people thrown into a room, all yelling information about themselves…but no one is actually talking to one another. For social networking to work, there has to …read more

I’ve written before about how important it is to meet with people in real life, not just online. You can find a lot of local jobs if you know where to look. I call it “real life social networking.” We usually just think of social networking as something done online at sites like Facebook and LinkedIn, but when you put yourself out there to meet potential clients, it’s like creating a profile of yourself. You have so many words or minutes to introduce yourself to others, promoting yourself as a writer or promoting your website.
Personally, I think you should treat …read more

Despite the fact that it exploded on to the scene and has become one of the most popular websites in the world, Twitter has still not managed to figure out its business model. A new deal that could get Twitter as much as $100 million, though, may give the website the time it needs to become profitable.
The funding would come from an investor group that includes mutual-fund giant T. Rowe Price Group Inc. and private-equity firm Insight Venture Partners, both of which have not yet invested any money into Twitter. Existing Twitter investors are also expected to participate in this …read more

I have a profile on LinkedIn, and shame on me for not using it often enough. Unlike other social networking sites, LinkedIn is less about driving traffic and more about actually connecting with people who can put you ahead. LinkedIn is the professional version of Facebook and MySpace.
You should use LinkedIn if…
…you want a job, an employee, or an opportunity for just about anything. LinkedIn is the equivalent to walking into a room full of people who can help you professionally, shaking their hands, and handing them you business card.
You’ll find people from your college who can give you a …read more

One of the reasons I get frustrated with social networking is the sheer number of people who seem to lose all tact when they log online. I guess it is the ability to be anonymous that makes people think it is OK to be rude, annoying jackasses. There’s at least one on every social networking site…the dreaded trolls.
First of all, let me clear something up. Trolls are not people who debate, disagree, or otherwise dissent from popular opinion, even if they aren’t exactly nice about it. Trolls are people who go out of their way to disrupt conversation just for …read more

Social networking is not exactly my favorite task in the world as a freelancer. I know how important it is to network and join communities. I just don’t like doing it.
I’ve learned a lot about social networking over the past few years – what works, what gets you banned, what drives absolutely no traffic to your website. It isn’t rocket science, but for those of you just starting out, here are four social networking mistakes to avoid:

Don’t combine your personal profile with your professional profile.

It’s just too confusing if you have profiles that include both clients and friends. …read more