{Feeling left behind?}

I was talking to my mom the other day about her generation verses my generation and my kids' generation in such a technological world.

Her generation had to play major catch up and still are, just to get in on the game with technology. My generation grew up with it and it has become common sense. My kids' generation are hardwired for technology.

Can you teach an old dog new tricks? Well, I think you can, you just have to spend a little more time and effort helping them to understand it on a deeper level, so they can apply it. Remember, this isn't "common sense" to them, in fact, it's quite foreign to them. If they can learn to apply it to their lives and understand it on a deeper level, they are more likely to remember it. I grew up with computers and Internet, so I have had a fairly easy time catching on and applying it to my life, but as it progresses so fast, I find myself having to try much harder to keep up. I can only imagine what my parents and their generation are feeling, but hey, don't get discouraged if you fall in this category, there is much help on the Internet and I'm always trying to help if I can.

One of the main reasons I started this blog, was to communicate with many of my collegues who are struggling with taking their business online. So today I'm going to go off track a little from my last post and jump into a post about Social Networking. It's all the rave lately and if you're not in the know about Social Networking, then you are getting left behind.

There are so many Social Network sites out there, you could spend years getting on them all. So I won't even attempt to name them, but I will tell you what you can expect to get out of Social Networking.

~They are free! They usually have a webpage that you can customize to fit your business and your personality, and a blog that is linked to your page. All for free!

~Many are user friendly, little or no web design experience required to customize and maintain.

~Free or cheap advertising.

~Common ground to meet customers and business associates. You can socialize with people you already know, meet people you don't already know, and bring people who you never would have met to the network. Some might be customers, some could be business associates, and many will become friends.

~A lot of free information shared on social networks. You can really learn a lot if you want to.

~Cross promote

~Keep your customers and associates up to date

~Meet people across the globe and within your own area that you may never had been able to meet otherwise.

~Smaller groups formed to associate on a more personal level with fellow networkers.

So now that you know why you should be networking, do some research and find out where you fit in and join up. Spend some time customizing your page, maybe blog a little, get familiar with the platform the network is hosted on. You can join some groups that share your interests. If you see someone who interests you, mark them as a friend, read their blog and their pages. Socialize! That's the key:)

That's it for today. Got a specific question you need answered or something you want to learn here on my blog? Email me wordywahm@live.com