Eight Secrets of Effective Online Networking
“The sites that have mobile clients or mobile-optimized Web sites make it possible so I can scan updates and post while commuting,” says Eugene Chan, IT director for the Community Technology Foundation of California. “Facebook is especially good in this regard.”
RSS also can be used to bring feeds from around the Web to your profile page.
“The crucial thing is that the social-networking profile must be good, up to date and interesting,” says Simon Berry, executive director for British nonprofit ruralnetuk. “However, its maintenance has to fit in with everything else we do and mustn’t be a separate process stuck on the side. The ability to ‘pull in’ content from elsewhere using RSS is really important.”
Cut down or manage your bacn: Bacn — e-mail alerts from social-networking sites — is a new form of spam. One way to manage this potential nuisance is to set your preferences to block them entirely, or to switch off e-mail alerts when someone friends you or posts to your profile. Besides, if you visit your profile daily, you might not need to receive the e-mail alerts. If you prefer to manage your profile from your inbox, use a filter or rule to direct them into a folder so you can deal with bacn in batches. If you do want to receive alerts, but not by e-mail, some sites offer the option to receive them as text messages. The point is, have a system.
“When I first started, every time a friend request or message notification arrived in my e-mail box, I’d check it right away,” HSUS’ Lewis says. “It became unmanageable. Now, I set a specific time every day to approve friend requests and comments, and message back those that write us. By having a set time every day, I don’t allow it to consume my time and I get a lot more done.”
