Why You Should Use Online Networking

Posted by KC Morgan Jul 14, 2009

Social networking sites are the hottest online trend, and for good reason. Not only can you find a mildly entertaining way to kill the time, look up former classmates and possibly touch base with friends and family, you can also use these sites to stretch your professional muscles and potentially forge new contacts. If you’re self employed, you should absolutely be using social networking to find new work.

Social Media: Just for Friend-Finding?

Social networking sites like MySpace aren’t just for people seeking friendship and romantic connections. Believe it or not, you can use these sites to form professional relationships as well. Sites like LinkedIn offer all the bells and whistles of social media, but they provide something more: they allow you to find other professionals, and people who could be in a position to give you a job. If you can join a group or create a contact that might advance your career, isn’t social networking worth a little bit of your time?

Use Online Networking for Self-Promotion

Sure, forging contacts and finding helpful groups of other like-minded individuals can be valuable, but there’s even more to online networking that the obvious. Facebook, MySpace and others also give you a priceless opportunity to do something extremely important in self employment: they allow you to self-promote. You can include feeds, links and other resources on your profile that direct others toward your work, which could help you showcase your skills to a much broader audience. Some sites even allow you to find jobs, a compelling draw for any freelance professional.