Monday, July 11, 2011

Online Business Networks - Do they work for you?

Over the last few years we have seen a number of online business networks appear. These include new concepts associated with FaceBook, Twitter and other social media websites. As well as these we have sites such as Xing, LinkedIn, Ecademy, Fast Pitch, A Busy World, Group Site, Plaxo, Ryze and Viadeo. We can also add the dozens of different sites that support offline networking such as 4Networking, Ambassadors, Business Scene, NRG, Peer Group Learning and Business Link. I’m sure you can think of many others as well.

These all play an important part in our business lives otherwise we would not become members and participate in their activities would we? After all, some people spend hours each day online using one or more of these websites to promote their business products and services. That time must be financially justified!

Well actually how true is that - and how effective are these types of online activities?

I know that there are some who swear by these networking sites and claim that they bring loads of work to them. I’m sure that in some cases this is very true, but I also know in many cases it is just not so. I know lots of people who no longer participate having realized that they are both time consuming and produce little or no results.

Personally I believe that being a member of these types of sites can benefit you if you actively participate in the site, blogging, messaging, creating contents etc. Your reputation can grow, or even shrink as some have found out.

My question is simply this.

Do these sites provide real value to you and in an ideal world what would you like to see happen that would improve their value even more?

As you use these sites, do you wish that you could do something that you believe would benefit you, and if so what would they be. My experience show me that many of these sites having little or nothing to offer that is of real value to me.

If you believe that they have been very beneficial to you then please comment below so that others can benefit from your experience.

Regards
Jim Tuffin


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