With so many different tools and options available for social networking, its easy to get confused. Really, when it comes down to it, there is no right or wrong way to do anything. More so, social networking is driven on a trial and error base.  Whatever works best for you is key. In this article I’ll try to give a condensed list of different useful websites and what they can do for you.

5 Networking Sites (In no particular order):

Facebook Can be used for professional or business use A way to network with other people A way to list your business for others to see A way to share media A way to post events Free advertising Specific examples where Facebook could be useful A web developer could search for others in their profession A company can create a fan page then link their blog to it Blog posts can automatically be updated With a fan page a company can have contests or other incentives With a large enough network, you can use Facebook to get information and perform your own market research on connections. Myspace Another Networking tool A way to network with other people A way to list your business for others to see A way to share media A way to post events Free advertising Specific examples where Myspace could be useful A great way to reach a certain audience A company can create a page and list all their business information With a fan page a company an have contests or other incentives Although Myspace is a great social networking tool, I wouldn’t necessarily recommended for a lot of businesses Myspace is REALLY good for music and bands Twitter Micro Blog By building a follower list you can network with others Also can broadcast your business to a specific audience Also can research trends on what people are talking about An easy way to get the most up-to-date information Some ways Twitter can be useful: A way to research if anything is being said about your company and/or competition A way to keep people up-to-date on company goings-on A way to find and meet up with other people LinkedIn Another Networking Tool A way to network with other professionals A way to get your business listed Great way to find answers to questions Great way to discreetly promote your blog Some ways LinkedIn can be useful: Can have your blog linked to post automatically to your profile With LinkedIn Polls, you’ll be able to find answers to your research questions by asking your network and other professionals Sphinn Internet Marketing news forums and discussions A way to find out hot topics, share news and start discussions Specifically geared toward online marketers A way to find out upcoming events and meet networking friends in person Some specific examples of Sphinn uses: Great way to keep up with the on-goings on the web Great way to meet other social networkers online Could be a great source of inspiration for blog articles and discussions on forums 

Del.ic.ious Delicious is the biggest collection of bookmarks online, and can point you to high quality resources for just about anything. A good way to share your bookmarks with people and get bookmarks in return Discover useful and interesting things on the web Can bookmark any site Good things about Delicious You can upload all your bookmarks already in your browser Toolbars are also available to bookmark sites as you find and not have to  go directly to delicious Easy way to share and network sites on the web StumbleUpon Similar to Delicious Alternative way to search for web pages Community based searching Good things about StumbleUpon Rating system on whether or not you liked a page Can write reviews of a page for other people to see Also has a browser toolbar for easy marking Digg Another social bookmarking website much more similar to StumbleUpon Great way to see top stories and breaking news across the web and share them Community based searching Things that are good about Digg Has a browser toolbar I REALLY enjoy this toolbar, it shows you stats on the certain item before you digg it Also has a rating and review system Enjoyable interface 

TwitterGrader Check out Twitter Grader to learn more about a Twitter user A great way to monitor yourself as you move forward with a twitter profile Wikipedia Excellent online encyclopedia offering information on just about anything you’d like to know Also a good way to put links back to yourself in the resource portions of articles Technorati Gear towards blogs Advertising network to enable blog and social media publishers at every level to maximize online advertising revenues TwitterSearch Great way to see what the tweet trends are on Twitter Can specifically search for a specific word Google Reader Great way to collaboratively follow different blogs that interest you Also gives you organizing tools for your RSS feed.