JAYNE AUGOYE writes that beyond Yahoo, Google, Facebook, and Twitter, there are other sites with beautiful offeringsIF you sign into Facebook or Twitter to upload and tag pictures, comment on status updates, stalk friends or follow a celebrity, you are doing yourself very little favour. The consolation may be that you are not alone in this complacent habit.In fact, experts say for many people, social media sites could be just a virtual place to express ones voice or have some fun while the enterprising ones consider it as serious business.Social media websites have become an integral part of our lives. It is, therefore, not surprising to find parents and older citizens actively participating on Facebook and Twitter especially. And generally for the younger generation, the world has become a small global village, thanks to the Internet.As a result, communicating with a total stranger in another part of the world does not seem awkward or weird. Information experts also opine that with advanced technology, better accessibility and user experience are made possible. But there are many other important opportunities to grab on the sites.Firstly, in order to get the best out of them, it is important to set clear goals about what you intend to get or benefit from it at the end of the day. For example, as a fresh graduate who is interested in networking with like minds/professionals, LinkedIn can help you prepare your resume and introduce your strengths and abilities to attract employers.It also provides an avenue for recruiters to find qualified candidates that match their requirement. However, if one is already gainfully employed, the site can help extend your career network.With LinkedIn, a user can also search for contacts from his or her email address, while it is also possible to find alumni networks and thus increase the chances of getting connected with like minds.But if the aim is to further develop and maintain professional relationships, the site does more than what exchanging business cards do. For instance, if one provides necessary and extensive information in his or her profile and regularly update the status, chances are high that one can get regular information of job openings.Besides, If you are looking for answers to any question that pertains to your industry, social media experts say LinkedIn is a great place to search for serious and professional answers as long as you phrase your question in a direct and succinct manner as it would be more sound, more authentic and people are more willing to share.Although Myspace, which used to be as popular as Facebook, appears to have sagged in fame, it is still very relevant to those who are able to tap into its offerings. Available in 15 different languages, the site allows customisation of profile and integration of features such as blogs, groups and bulletins.It is also commonly used by musicians, bands and comedians.Just like Facebook, users can send messages, add friends and comment on the profile page or find people from their email address.As an artiste, you could create your portfolio or repertoire of your own original music, upload pictures, videos and playlists. Users can also conveniently play your songs via the music player.By creating your own video channels, you can sustain your presence on the site. Music producers searching for new talents can also learn and discover up and coming talents judging from independent works and their popularity online.Twitter provides a practical and useful way of disseminating information of your organisation, business or beliefs online. In order to attract attention, it is best to use catchy and intelligent copywriting when tweeting. You could also follow related people who are in your area of business and interest. That way, you are rest assured that you will be landing in the right network.Digg may not sound so familiar to some people, but it does provide an avenue to hunt for breaking news. The site creates a trend or an attractive topic online and allows users to discuss or vote for the topic that best interests them.A business entrepreneur, can search for popular and interesting topics that dominate over a period and choose a niche market to enter, says prnews.com.Advertisers and marketers, on the other hand, can watch out for trends, headlines or content that cause users to get excited and vote for it. Digg also serves as a valuable tool for keeping news of business competitors.Any press releases about decisions made by business competitors would likely be digged/dugged. Hence, it is useful as a tool for PR monitoring, prnews.com adds.Youtube serves as a good entertainment site. But it can also be employed for educational purposes. Experts suggest that as some people do not have the time to read through articles to find a solution and would rather watch a video, a business can use the same strategy if it does not have the time regularly to write articles for their blog.Videos can be placed in your blog instead of an article post and do not require much editing. After all, you are not being judged on how brilliant your presentation is - but how the content helps solve a problem.Stumbleupon.comhelps you to stumble upon articles, posts and photographs that match your interests. After reading the article, you can choose whether or not to like it. The more likes an article receives, the more times it will be presented to future stumblers, which in turn means more page views for the website owner.Many website owners and bloggers encourage the sharing of their articles to StumbleUpon to drive traffic to their sites. The site can be a very powerful tool, when used correctly. Some stumblers have garnered up to several thousand hits on a single post, in a single day as a result of effective use.Founded in 2003 by Joshua Schachter, del.icio.us is a social bookmarking web service for storing, sharing, and discovering web bookmarks. It is also a system for archiving favourite information from across the net, tracking hot topics, and discovering new and useful sites. The power of del.icio.us comes in the form of its collective intelligence, which is constantly adding, reviewing, and filtering new information.It also gives you a centralised management system for organising information from around the net. However, many people are still unaware of its complete list of features and valuable add-ons.
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