Readers to Buzz Networker will know that I am fascinated with why people have embraced social networks so willingly and what people are truly looking for with social networks…if you haven’t listened to the podcast about The Sociology of Networks it is worth listening to here
So I was interested in a new study – Understanding Users of Social Networking by Mikolaj Jan Piskorski who is an associate professor and a Marvin Bower Fellow in the Strategy unit at Harvard Business School. (Photo from Harvard Site)
Some intriguing insights were

“People just love to look at pictures,” says Piskorski. “That’s the killer app …read more

Yesterday I wrote about my conversation with a sociology lecturer, Dr Vince Miller . I am intrigued about why social networking is growing and the effect on society. Putting together this podcast was great in getting me thinking about what has driven the growth, is it human beings wanting to move away from true community – or even being forced to?
The Engaging Brand podcast is in two parts. The first one The Sociology of Community can be heard here and the second part can be heard here. I would strongly suggest you listen to both as only together do you …read more

This is a question which I have thought a lot about recently. The growth in social networking has been enormous and I often wonder from a societal point of view, what is driving it? What are we really looking for from social networking?
I had the chance to speak to a sociology lecturer, Dr Vince Miller about this area and the result was a fantastic podcast about the whole area. The Engaging Brand podcast is in two parts.
In this first part we talk about

What is social networking about? Self promotion or connection?
What is a community?
How the need to connect may be …read more

Tapping into social networking is an idea that brands love, they want to network with their consumers but how do you do it?
Well I interviewed Pettrina Keogh of Gurgle.com on The Engaging Brand Podcast which you can find here,  to find out

Why use social networking to build a brand
Is the site to connect readers to readers or brand to readers?
How the site is seen as a hub of information rather than a website
How you attract people to the community
Why is social networking so important in brand engagement
Are there different strategies for different social media tools?
How to protect yourself legally on …read more

We have all heard the phrase that people trust friends rather than companies and this has led to brands wanting to show their personality, networking with people rather than selling to them. But is it working?
Well research from eMarketer on Social Network marketing would say yes…
They quote examples such as

Brand pages and applications can be vehicles to deliver coupons and offers to consumers to drive trials, store traffic and response. A July 2009 Starbucks promotion, for example, distributed coupons for a free pastry via Facebook and other social outlets. The chain was soon one of the top trending topics on …read more

For a long time the blog Brazen Careerist has been a must read blog for me. Penelope Truck is a superb writer and sharer of information. She has just launched her new company which is described as
“Brazen Careerist is a career management tool for next-generation professionals. In a career space where experienced professionals win, we’ve created a community that levels the playing field.
Create a profile on Brazen Careerist that showcases more than just your resume, because your ideas matter too. Then, follow real-time updates from your favorite members and begin to build a network through conversations: the way networking …read more

So we know that women love the social networking sites but when they are there what are they looking…or chatting about?
Emarketer points us to some latest research “The Power of Social Networking For Women Research Study” from female-oriented social networking site ShesConnected.
Initially I was surprised how many were logging on multiple times a day – 59%. A further 14 % log on daily. This shows how the social networking sites are very much part of a daily routine for the female demographic.
So what is the main reason

It clearly shows how women value connections, value that human interaction during …read more

If you are looking how to share documents, presentations or PDF’s then a good website is Scribd. Interestingly they have also added a social networking aspect to their site. This makes sense as the site was a way of sharing but lacked that ability to build a community feel to your visit. Now you

Can see a news feed of your friends
Reply to friends feeds
Add items of interest to your profile
Easily follow and find new friends.

It is another example of how web sites are understanding the social aspect to sharing and in many ways Scribd has “copied” aspects from Twitter and …read more

Connections are the new currency of the web generation. To this end I wanted to find out what connections really are and how we can build strong connections to help our career. I have just interviewed Iggy Pintado who has written a book called Connection Generation on my podcast The Engaging Brand to find out more.
The interview was so “engaging” that I have had to split it into two parts with the first podcast looking at

How the internet has changed the way we think about connections
Has the internet changed the way we connect or how we connect?
Is the internet a …read more

Social networking is about connections but it is also about sharing. Mashable has an interesting article on how people’s preference is Facebook when it comes to sharing. As the report shows
“Facebook now dominates sharing, with 24 percent of shares from the widget consisting of users posting items to the social network. That handily beats out email (11.1 percent) and Twitter () (10.8 percent), making the world’s most popular social network also the most popular service for sharing content.”
It makes sense that Facebook is the key social networking for sharing, though I suspect that Twitter will continue to gather a pace …read more