Moving on...

With Social Networking Sites on the rise it is interesting to see how sites differentiate themselves. There are some great niche specific networks pertaining to: the social good, business applications, medical applications and various personal pursuits. With all these options available, I think it is important to focus and to be involved in the networks that offer what you need. I joined my first networks upon entering college. Initially, Facebook and MySpace helped me keep tabs on all my old friends. The novelties of the resources were very exciting, and for a couple of years these sites have offered everything I wanted. It has taken a bit longer to realize they don't offer all that I need. I am the youngest child in a driven family, led by a father who is a firm believer in the wisdom of the parachute (as in, What Color is Your Parachute by Richard Nelson Bolles). On and off throughout my childhood, I recall the book lying about the house or given as a gift. I personally received the book anytime my parents thought I needed a job age12 babysitting, age 15 refereeing, age 16 the movie theater and on; it wasn't until last year that actually I got beyond the cartoons and diagrams. The main takeaways I got from the book are that there is a colorful parachute on the cover, and that it stresses networking. Coming to the end of my undergraduate career one of my higher personal goals (and embarrassingly enough New Years resolutions) is to more proactively network. So as my priorities change, I try to acknowledge that I have less need to constantly monitor my original networks. Don't get me wrong it is still fun to get a billboard from a friend or to lose at Scrabulous; but the dollar gifts seem pointless and I constantly get friend requests from fake people with real gimmicks. I have gotten bored of all the bells and whistles, my original two sites hold less allure then they once did. I will keep my accounts active so I have the access to all my friends locations and contacts but I need to branch out. Today, I will broaden my network and will open an account with the notoriously anti-social LinkedIn. It is said to be considerable less aesthetically pleasing then most sites concentrating on social communities, pictures were only added within the last year, but seems to offer more compelling things. Networking has been its main selling point and the site is growing quickly. The focus will be shifting slightly from the individual to include offering services specifically to companies. They will be able to access the connections of their employees and there will be open forums for intra-company communications. I hope that adding this network to my online portfolio it will help to cater to some of my more adult needs.