So you want to use social networking...

The first step: What is social networking? According to TechLearning.com, “this is where people develop networks of friends and associates. It forges and creates links between different people.”

Basically, the examples of social networking we'll go over today are ways to find people online and learn about their interests and hobbies. Today's ultimate goal is learning how to use these social networking tools for work.We'll discuss three examples of social networking sites today.

Facebook was developed by Harvard students with the college crowd in mind. While anyone can now sign up, it's still widely used by college students and is an excellent tool for anyone working in a university town.

To join: Go to www.facebook.com and head to the box that says “sign up for Facebook.” Fill in your information and click “sign me up.” Go to the e-mail account you signed up with for a confirmation message. Once you get past all that, you can enter your password for your e-mail address, which will help you find friends who've addresses you've stored. Then fill in your information about where you went to high school and college and where you work, and then where you live. These networks will connect you with people you might know. After that, enter all the information you please about yourself. Just remember – if you put it out there, it's going to be out there. Just about anyone can see it unless you set various privacy controls on this page. Follow the appropriately named links to add friends, who will give you updates on their lives (if they're good Facebook users).

Using Facebook:

Of course, the enormous amount of information available on Facebook is what makes it such a great tool for work. Use it to connect with possible clients and keep a finger on the pulse of what's going on around town. Some features that are especially helpful:

• Networks. Many people restrict their profiles to be viewed by just their networks, so you might want to make friends with someone with an Illinois.edu e-mail address if you want to talk to University of Illinois students. Recently, Julie Wurth used Pam Dempsey's Facebook account to find students displaced by unfinished high-rise apartments. Some of their pages were open to Pam, because Pam is in the UI network. A few even included their phone numbers on their pages.
• Groups. Julie also used theseto track students down for this story. She found an entire group dedicated to this high-rise apartment. She clicked on its page and saw students' (mostly angry) discussion about the fact that they didn't have a place to live.
• Search. Facebook has a powerful search function that can help you find people by name, location, interests and even the books and movies they like. It also organizes search results, first noting your friends and those in your networks.
• Business pages. Both The News-Gazette and Pulse have these, as do many other businesses around town. They're a good way to see what's going on among local businesses and who might have an opinion about them. They're also a good way for you to find the people who run these businesses; it could be a good way to connect with a new or existing client.
  

This social networking tool never had restrictions on who could join, so it's bigger than Facebook. I also find that it's a better resource for finding people who aren't as much of a collegiate, educated demographic, although that could be personal bias. MySpace allows for privacy protection, but in my experience, tends to be more open than Facebook.

To join: Go to www.myspace.com. Find the link on the far right side of the page that says “Sign Up.” Click it and enter your information. MySpace will take you directly into the part that has you uploading your picture and inviting friends. However, you'll have to go to your e-mail for confirmation before you're able to do much more.

Once you get that squared away, use the scroll-down menus across the top of your screen to do things like edit your profile, send mail to friends and search for people.

Using MySpace:

Search. This feature is the site's best feature. When you click the link for “browse for new friends,” you can refine a search depending on gender, age and proximity to a certain zip code. I met a young reporter at a conference who uses MySpace to identify gang members in her town. They sometimes post pictures of themselves holding guns.

Business pages. I was alerted to a story idea after someone saw the page of an exotic animal broker who uses MySpace for business. Other local businesses are also on MySpace – it's an interesting way to see who likes that business and who participates with them online.

More profile information: Shows the user's last login, which lets you know if he or she is active.

This site is a purely professional social networking site. But just because it doesn't feature any raucous drinking photos doesn't mean it can't still be a good source of information for you. On this site, your profile basically acts as a resume and just about every interaction has some professional value.

To join: At the top of www.linkedin.com, click “Join Today.” It's a little harder to find than the other sites' sign-ups. Enter your name and e-mail address, and then the next page will ask you to fill in your company's name and your position there. This will help you connect with other coworkers. The service will walk you through filling out your profile – starting with uploading pictures and filling out your resume-like profile.

Using LinkedIn:

This is a networking tool in the true sense of the word. You can select reasons people can contact you – for expertise requests, business deals and the like. You can ask one of your contacts to connect you with someone they know. And its Q & A section allows you to find expert opinion on certain subjects and read other conversations. LinkedIn is also a good way to check out timelines – people put in their exact time at a company and so you can see who worked at the same place at the same time. And you can quickly refer to someone's profile to see their qualifications and interests, which might prepare you for an interview or meeting with a subject.

Tips on social networking

• Get familiar with what and who is out there. Sometimes browsing can lead to a great story or contact, or just information you can file away for later use.
• Take advantage of all that information that's offered. It can be hard to get used to. But when you're in the information business, you should take advantage of your resources.
• Use searches to their fullest – they're the best way to find people who aren't in your immediate circle of friends and family.
• Do networking in the true definition of the word: see who your friends are friends with. Then look to see who those people are friends with.
• Get involved. Help people out, especially on a social networking site like LinkedIn. Join groups, become a fan of businesses and follow area movers-and-shakers. Don't be pushy or present yourself differently than you would in real life.
• Be careful about the information you put out there. It's on the Web, which basically means it's free for the public to see. Think about it this way: if you wouldn't want your boss or biggest critic to see it, it's probably not a good idea to post it.