Networking in a Nutshell

Networking is a powerful tool and an integral part of business and professional development. Some people are natural networkers, although many of us find ourselves avoiding events because we don't know how to take advantage of them.

It's not all hard work. With the right method it can be an enjoyable and rewarding experience. Here are some ideas which you can use to help you get the most out of your network.

What is networking?

As described in the Collins dictionary, a network is an interconnected group or system. Therefore networking is the process of using a network or interconnected group to your advantage.

Why network?

Networking gives you the opportunity to gain insights into other businesses and contacts, and increase your exposure. At a networking occasion you are presented with the opportunity to tap into a wealth of information and experience in one room. A great asset of networking is that you never know what treasure is around the corner.

If time allows for it become involved with a networking organisation. This will open up even more opportunities. Budget and time permitting, organise to be a guest speaker or a sponsor as this will greatly increase exposure for you and your business.

How to network

This is perhaps the most daunting part of the process. Follow these tips to make it easier:

1. Make sure you have enough business cards to hand out and make sure you swap cards; this one of the most important items you can take from the event.

2. Look professional and dress accordingly.

3. Set out objectives for the evening. Are you looking to build your contacts or are you after a certain type of contact? Try and hit your objectives early, then you can generally mingle and increase your exposure.


If you do not find it easy to start a conversation pick a couple of current news topics you can use.

5. Take a colleague or business associate if turning up to an event on your own seems tough. Alternatively it could be a good opportunity to take a new business contact.

6. Take a look around the room – if it's not a seated event look for opportunities to enter conversations.

7. Manage your time and don't get stuck in one conversation. The room is full of ideas, so use the time wisely. Have a general rule of 15 minutes per contact.

8. Remember that everyone is there to network, so the person you are speaking to is also after knowledge and contacts. Think about what you can provide them. Even though you might not get an immediate return you might see potential in the future for a returned favour.

9. Don't dismiss any opportunities – you never know where conversations might lead.


10. Set up future meetings at the event – it's much harder for people to reject you face-to-face.

What to do with the contacts

So, what happens to all those business cards? Firstly you need to categorise them. You can then enter them into an appropriate database which can be set up in Excel or Access. Your database should include information such as contact details, where you met the contact and any special interests or insights you might have gained during your conversation.

Make sure that all ideas are written down in your database and that actions are documented straight away. Networking is mentally and physically draining so notes will ensure the benefits are not lost.

You then need to work out what to do with them – do you have any immediate tasks?

Reaping the benefits

The most important part of networking is ensuring you are able to learn and grow from the experience. The more you gain the better. By setting up some tools you can make sure you don't miss any opportunities. Eventually what once seemed like the daunting process of networking becomes second nature and an important part of growing your business.

Being Stalked On Facebook

Being stalked on facebook is not a pleasant experience. I wonder in actual fact how many people have been stalked on facebook? When one thinks about stalking the first scenario which pops to mind is one of a man obsessively following a woman with some sort of physically abusive intent.

But stalking actually takes many different forms. In fact, something which happens more frequently than you might expect is that someone begins to stalk you on facebook. So many of us share photographs and an immense amount of our lives in written format on social sharing sites such as facebook or through placing blog posts. Sometimes this is simply a social thing which we do; at other times this type of social posting is part of your business networking and marketing of your business interests.

You do not tend to get stalked by complete strangers whether you are being stalked in person or being stalked on facebook; there is usually a tie of some description, loose though it may be. Thus it comes as a bit of a surprise when you are in the latter category (posting for business purposes) and you get stalked. But, if it has happened to you and you are aware that you have been the subject of facebook stalking, when you look back you will realize with hindsight that it is far easier for the stalker to go about their sleuth work when you are intent upon and distracted by your business goals.

This is what happened to me. When your intent is networking or viral marketing you aren't vetting every "friend request" very closely. If you were just using facebook or your blog for personal reasons you would only accept real friend requests from people you know in person or only reveal your blog to close friends. And so I accepted as a friend a faceless request and they proceeded to hover over my photographs, blog posts and web pages with a jealous obsession of which I was at first blissfully unaware. I was being stalked on facebook for more than a few months before I fully realized what was happening.

I had in fact attempted to keep my facebook profile one which was oriented towards "business only" activity. But inevitably, over time, your guard slips and you begin to think that it won't matter if some of your friends are on there too. Not only that, many of your friends want to be there so as to assist you in virally marketing your business. In hindsight, I was far too trusting in the goodness of human nature.

It becomes very easy to stalk, and to be stalked, in these circumstances. Here the would-be-stalker is, sitting at home on Friday night, wondering perhaps what their ex is doing with their life. They find themselves drawn to facebook and search for their name; up pops their page where you can see photos of all of their friends. Now you begin to wonder who those friends are. Which one is the new girlfriend? How does he know her or she know him? Starting to stalk or being stalked on facebook is so damnably easily done.

It doesn't take long to figure out who's who when you have access to those pages on facebook and a masochistic motivation to know more than is in fact good for you. It only takes a few more lonely weekends for you to consider it acceptable to create a bogus profile and begin to stalk on an on-going basis. I'm sure the stalker doesn't see it as stalking and can find many a justification for their actions. But come on now, face reality, face the facts. You created a faceless page because you knew wanted to hide your identity. You knew you were totally out of line and your shadowy presence unwanted.

I was in fact amazed by the extreme anger I felt upon discovering my stalker. I was absolutely livid and in fact am still very galled by their nerve. I am normally a pretty peaceful person with a "live and let live" nature; I can put myself in the other's shoes quite eaily and automatically, and yet I found myself dealing with an instinctive desire to completely crush this person. In actual fact this is the normal "fight or flight" reaction kicking in at times of threat; being stalked on facebook is a threat, same as if you are being followed down the street, and your mind and body instinctively ready themselves to fight back with everything that you've got!

I am reminded of a friend who had a slightly different experience but displayed the same livid emotional reaction. Another woman had persisted in telephoning and asking her and her husband to dinner. Again and again she called; again and again she happened to appear in the park outside their house. My friend explained that this other woman had an unveiled interest on her husband; she was in fact being stalked as a way to try to get to her husband.

She was not threatened by this in terms of making her fear losing her husband as they have a very solid relationship. But she found the whole situation totally insulting and was outraged that another woman could act like that towards her. Her emotions were so strong that she said she could not be in the same room as this woman without verbally ripping into her.

At the time I must admit that I thought her reaction was a bit over the top. As we discussed this whole stalking scenario, I pointed out that it wasn't even worth worrying about; this woman's interest in her husband was never going to be a real threat to her. Her response was that I had too forgiving a nature; that I was too open and trusting. As she said, who needs friends who would treat you like that? Why would you open the door to them?

Now that I have been subjected to a stalking experience myself, all be it via facebook and not in person, I am totally with her; I find my forgiving nature has deserted me.

What I found doubly ironic was that in the final email exchange on facebook (the one which made me realize that this so called friend was in fact stalking me) she attempted to say I was being untruthful when I did not answer her question in the way that she wished. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black! She'd been lying and deceiving me intentionally for months whilst stalking me on facebook.

She was in fact so determined to push me to agree with her viewpoint that she unwittingly revealed her identity. She was immediately deleted as a friend and the door slammed in her face. She will however still be able to stalk me to a degree. I will no longer be stalked by her on facebook, but for my business I do post articles on my blog. In fact, I would wager a rather large bet that she reads this very article almost as soon as it is posted.

I rather hope that, as well as being embarrassed by her atrocious behavior, she has now realized that stalking me has never actually done her any good, and will perhaps recognize that it is high time to seek help with her insecurities and obsessions. She will maybe also realize that her own emotional baggage is what stops her from nurturing positive relationships.

To protect yourself against being stalked on facebook, everyone should take at least a few basic precautions. Make sure there are recent photos to be seen, check that there are a fair number of friends, how long they have been on facebook and what type of activity they have been involved in whilst on facebook.

The Importance of Privatizing Your Facebook Page

CAUTION: What information you provide on your Facebook page, MySpace, LinkedIn, and Twitter could cost you money that you deserve in your personal injury case.

Although most people use social media websites such as Facebook, Twitter, Linked In and My Space as a way of reconnecting with old friends and keeping up with current friends, these websites are also used for purposes other than relationship building.

What you may not know is that insurance companies also use social internet sites and other internet sites to learn about your life and gain access to your personal information. Insurance companies know that they can glean an abundance of personal information about accident victims through their social networking sites. In order to try to damage your accident case, they will search the internet for any and all information that could make you look bad.

Insurance adjustors, claims adjusters, investigators and defense attor-neys scour the internet, aware of the vast amount o information offered freely by people online. Whether on a personal web page, blog, or other website such as Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, or Twitter, to name a few, the information to be found can be a goldmine for building a case against claimants.

This technique of surfing online for information on an accident victim is "internet surveillance." The information on the sites may be relevant to litigation, especially in the context of a personal injury claim.

They will view:

Pictures you post; pictures friends post of you; videos you post; activities you talk about; your work activities; any relationships that you may have.

Your accident case could potentially be ruined by the information that you provide on social media sites, video sites, and photo sites.

If you have been in an accident, you need to be aware of what you and others put on the internet about you before you bring a case against the person responsible for the accident. Even if you think your posts are perfectly innocent, insurance companies will take bits and pieces of information about you and use it to try to build their case against you. In addition to being aware of what you post and what others post about you on the internet, it is also a good idea to increase your privacy settings so that insurance companies and other people who you may not want seeing your private and personal information do not have full access to your profile.

How You Can Build A Great Facebook Profile

Facebook is the best social network and one of most favorite internet sites these days that persons of all age ranges are getting involved with. In case you really do not currently have a Facebook account, I highly recommend that you just go and register now. If you already have an account, it's time to start out employing it for your advantage. Facebook is not just a place where you'll be able to connect with your close friends, it can in fact be employed to further your individual brand and career. Here is how you possibly can use Facebook to its full potential:

Never stay inside your circle – You ought to get away from just communicating with your high school or college friends and begin interacting with persons within your business or other businesses that you desire to have into. An simple method to do that is to join groups that appeal to you as properly as make buddies with individuals that you would like to have to know.

Fill out your profile (fully) – The most effective profile on Facebook is often a complete one. This doesn’t mean you should submit your name and contact details, it just means you have to complete all of the fields available.

Do not be shy – The purpose of Facebook should be to connect and socialize with other members, so really do not be shy! Coomunicate back with other members by writing on their wall, commenting on ımages, asking your good friends questions, and most importantly telling all your good friends happy birthday. Performing all these tasks will enable others to have to understand who you actually are instead of just knowing your name.

Spice up your profile – Facebook Applications lets you spice up your profile by adding details that appeal to your interest. For example, Which places you've been before? Who are your top close friends? etc ...

Create it, and they won't come – You basically need to market your self on Facebook to turn out to be popular. In most cases this can be carried out from interaction, which I noted above, but you can also do things like including images of your self and other Facebook users. Whenever you do this the other persons that you just tagged inside the picture will get emailed, thus growing the number of individuals who see you on Facebook. Some from the other things to take into account are generating a group or a page on Facebook as nicely as generating your own application, which could be sent out to all your pals.

Retain your profile up-to-date – In the event you do not maintain your profile up-to-date it's going to commence dying down. By keeping it up-to-date it will acquire far more traffic and additional men and women will get to recognise you.

Blogging and Social Networking

Blogging and Social networking Vs Search engines Today there are millions of bloggers and social networkers worldwide. While blogging allows you to share stories and experiences, social networking helps you connect with others with the same interest.

Have you ever wondered how the term  Blog  came into existence? Blogs were used by many around the world even before we heard the name Blog. Initially it was the web logs which were used to write and update websites. The name web log later became Blog. Blogging has become very popular nowadays and widely used by many leading companies, organisations and individuals around the globe. The BBC has a blog for its news readers to post their comments and update.

Wordpress and Blogger.com make blogging very easy to understand and use. Blogs give you the options of creating a design and layout, uploading images, video and having a unique URL. This way it looks as if you are maintaining your own website. It allows you to share information with your friends and keep them updated on your latest move.

Blogs are very SEO friendly so it is worth having links back to your website. Search engines love new content. If you are a blogger already updating your blog frequently with interesting information. Search engine robots crawl these blogs more often than websites. Your blog can boost your main site s rankings if set up properly. Social networking sites are as much SEO friendly as blogs. Sites such as Facebook give many options to promote your website and allow you to create groups and find people of a particular area with the same interest.

Join the group Manchester Web Designers and get new offers and discounts and information about Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), Web marketing, eCommerce, Corporate branding and Website Designing in Manchester. Join Cheshire Cosmetics Ltd if you d like to know about the latest cosmetic treatments and technologies, how skin treatments are done, beauty & skin care tips.

Twitter on the other hand allows you to update it with the latest happenings. You can be followed by people if you have interesting tweets and stay up to date and interact with people with the same ideas.