A Little Blog on Networking in the New World

I believe I will find my next new adventure through social media. I have already had several leads sent to me through Twitter and LinkedIn. I’ve also had people help me get my resume to the right people when online applications have screwed up. This is what networking is all about.

I use my social media in different ways. My Facebook is more personal in nature. I only friend people I know personally. I’m not one of those people who friend randomly. I’m also not one of those people who friends a person I’ve only met once. If that means I have only a little over 200 friends, then so be it. Most people aren’t going to care about the things I post on Facebook anyway. Do you care about my vacation pictures, or the pictures of my cat, or the status about the cute thing my daughter did today? Probably not, but people who actually know me might.

Twitter is a mishmash of things I don’t mind sharing with the world in general. Anyone can follow me, and I can follow just about anyone. This is the place to go if you want to get to know me, but I have no clue who the heck you are. I tweet some personal stuff, but I mostly tweet or retweet interesting articles and information. I also plug my job hunting and my little nuggets of public relations or marketing know-how. That’s something I won’t do on Facebook. I’ve learned most of my friends don’t care.

LinkedIn is more about the networking part of social networking.  My advice is not to connect with someone on LinkedIn unless you actually know the person in some way. Do not treat it like Twitter and try to follow everyone in your town that happens to have something to do with the job you are trying to get. And it’s really hard to network with someone when the person knows nothing about you.

But please do follow anyone you want to on Twitter. It’s a good way to learn about the companies, organization and people in your industry. And if you interact with someone on Twitter positively, they may eventually become a connection on LinkedIn. I have a few connections on LinkedIn that I haven’t met, but I’ve interacted with them on Twitter enough that they’ve become part of my network.

There have been plenty of blogs and articles on how to use social media. Just Google them. I don’t want to write another. I just want to impart a little of what I’ve learned. I am not going to forget about traditional networking and friendships, but I’m feeling really good about what’s going on in my social media world. And I hope this little blog helps you to understand this world a little bit better.

By the way, you can follow me on Twitter @bethfulton. Hope to see you there!