Frequently I’m asked what social networks people should join. I have my (very cool) answer, which is more of a thought process to help YOU figure out which networks YOU should join… and I recently found a terrific analysis of a bunch of social networks.
Thanks to Susan Joyce, of Job-Hunt.org, who forwarded me a link to the Ignite “2008 Social Network Analysis Report,” which shares geographic and demographic information as well as traffic information about about 42 social networks… this report is tremendous, and should be helpful in determining which social networks you, as a job seeker or career manager, should consider joining.
After checking out the report, here are some questions I’d ask myself:
- Which networks are getting enough traffic/users that merit my involvement? In other words, is there enough traction for me to be involved?
- Which networks are getting traffic/users from the countries you need to network with? If you deal with south america you should join _____, if you deal with Asia you should join _____, etc.
- Which networks have users that are making the right amount? Don’t care to network with a bunch of kids with no income? Check the stats to see which ones to avoid. I’ll caution you, though, be aware of the “country” + “income” conflict… in other words, there might be a lot of users in your target country who seem to not make much, but in that (those) countries it might be a lot.
Thanks Susan Joyce, this is the best resource I’ve seen (that I can remember) to evaluate which networks are worth my time!
This report is a great resource. There are far too many networks to participate in all of them. It feels like I’m invited to join a new network I’ve never heard of at least every few days. Building relationships and contributing to the community is key to getting value.
Thanks for a great resource. As much as I have learned over the few years, I still am surprised by the number of sites I DIDN’T know about. I am now trying to limit the number of sites where I will profile and having a more specific use for each. Facebook (Friends and Family), Plaxo (business contacts/inforolodex), Linkedin (business networking). Hard to keep up.
Becareful of pushing face to face contact to the back shelve. If all job seekers are in “the network” where is the differentiation. The same point can be made with web sites. If everyone has one it like a phone number and I’ve never heard of someone getting a job becaus they had a phone number.