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Making the Most out of FOAF Networks?
BFF? asks: "With the rising popularity of online FOAF (Friend of a Friend) networks such as Orkut, Friendster and Linked-In I was wondering if and how people are using these networks to help their career along. Are these social networks just for vanity's sake or are they actually useful when job-hunting?"
First Question ... why is this categorized under "hardware"?
Anyone confused as to what this has to do with hardware? I realize that the web sites in question are run on hardware, but that seems like a bit of a stretch...
Maybe I'm just an old-timer, but in my day we'd spooge free trips to conferences from employers, and talk to other people while there.
You get double networking points if you have a booth with some interesting content and some free "gimme" crap... and triple points if you teach a seminar or give a lecture.
Another good thing to do is teach a community college class in your area of expertise... It's a good way to meet people who are in a similar profession or who will one day be there.
Also, go to every professional association meeting for one or two organizations. It's always the same people at all that crap (at least in my industry), so if you want to be identified as a "player", it's helpful to at least make an appearance at that stuff.
Possibly check out the alumni thing for your department at university (if your work is relevant to your degree)... This is a good way to meet older people in the same line of work, many of whom are quite supportive of young folks.
I'm work at a consulting shop, so this might only be applicable to some... but get as much face time with the clients as possbile, and be sure that they know you are the one to call when something needs to get done. Establish a pattern that if they have a problem, they call you, and the problem goes away. You would be amazed how easy it is to build a good reputation just by answering phone calls or email, and sending a prompt reply.
Failing all else, I'd probably try to use an internet medium to network. I was a member of allexperts.com in my specific area of technical expertise for about a year. In that year, I probably got 10 offtopic questions, and about 30 requests from college kids to help with their homework.
I've not tried any other internet things, but my supposition is that the "audience" for your profile is too generalized. You need to get your mug in front of potential employers, and that doesn't sound like a time-effective solution. Go for it if you enjoy doodling around on the internet, but I wouldn't have any great expectation of success.
"If you think you have things under control, you're not going fast enough." --Mario Andretti
I applied to Semaview a couple years ago (FOAF views, contact management, scheduling stuff), and I thought I'd recheck yesterday to see if there was anything new with them. Looks like their site (at the moment, at least) isn't doing much at all.
...From washing airplanes as a teenager to my present contract 30 years later has come from networking.
I've gotten interviews and offers by looking in ad pages, but the best offers have always come from people that knew me.
People you know that find out about job openings will tell you about them before ads are placed. It helps to get your foot in the door early in the hiring process. While sifting through hundreds of qualified resumes, when someone recognizes your name, you are automatically moved to the top of the stack, or onto the shortlist. This is exactly how I got my present contract.
Good judgement comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgement.
- W. Wriston, former Citibank CEO
The old Boys network , all be it in a diffrent form for some new boys and girls .
Its the same type of social orgranisation for a digital age , It has worked well for hundreds of years and i shouldnt see why it wont work now though i wouldnt like to pay for it , if your in the IT industry making freinds on sites like this could help , it never hurts to make freinds at work
The only things certain in war are Propaganda and Death. You can never be sure which is which though
Is Friendster making phones now? The only reason I ask is that I'm puzzled how this article could have be categorized under Hardware. I know the Slashdot category taxonomy calls for this but communications is a universe of concepts beyond merely hardware.
Kriston
I haven't used any of the specifically mentioned services much, but generally speaking, the Intarnets have been good for keeping in touch with old colleagues and bosses. In fact, just a few days ago I came across an old invitation to LinkedIn from an old boss while I was looking through 30k+ of spam that had accumulated in an old abandoned e-mail account. Turns out around 15 of my old co-workers and bosses were on LinkedIn already so we'll see if it turns into a great reunion party or something. :-)
Money for nothing, pix for free
My experience with Friendster is that 95% of the people on there use it as a time-waster, and the other 5% are looking for dates.
For example, my friends list is dominated by stuff such as Old Crow whiskey, a bar, and a giant neon Citgo sign in Boston. I also have people I already know on my list, but I haven't even tried to meet people or network on Friendster, and, unless everyone I know on Friendster is different from everyone else on Friendster, nobody else is trying to, either.
I don't get the link to FOAF. All the companies mentioned are jealously keeping people locked in, FOAF is an open standard and lets people network across pretty much anything. FOAF is the antithesis of the social networking sites linked.
Why can't I moderate something "Wrong" or at least "Grossly Misinformed"?
My girlfriend and I have replaced the Clemson phone directory for thefacebook.com where all the pertinent information is stored anyone. It's basically the college version of the ones mentioned in the article.
Direct away from face when opening.
Sorry. I'm only familiar with FOAD networks...
Nothing to see here. Move along.
I didn't know that fad even existed still. I thought most of the heavy users would have moved to blogs already, for the more pleasurable back-patting circle.
I haven't even logged into my Orkut account for months, basically it was incredibly slow, no one posted in any of the group forums, and the place was dominated by Brazilians who kept ignoring the "English only" groups. It not that anyone is racist, it's just nice to freaking understand 90% of you group's traffic.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5488683/
Are these social networks just for vanity's sake or are they actually useful when job-hunting?
Because vanity and work are the only two reasons for anything? Sometimes I really worry about Americans.
My Journal
There are no trails. There are no trees out here.
I was wondering why there weren't more comments on this article ...
then I realized ... Friend of a Friend ...
and this is /.
I signed up for TheFaceBook and was friended by a person I had never met after SEVEN MINUTES.
/. crowd ever had a chance at bedding the Alpha Cheerleader-types that rejected us in high school, TheFaceBook is the enabler.
That being said, I have never met more blonde sorority sisters anywhere. And they ALL ARE FRIGGIN' CLUELESS! If the college
Be forewarned though, it's more addictive than smack, crack and cigarettes combined.
"No beer until you finish your tequila!" -Leela's Dad
I think a lot of negative FOAF experiences come from the fact that people use them like a digital yearbook/mash book -- "Oh, I'm on such-and-such a network. Join, and we can connect!" Do that, and you end up with a pretty isolated network that's not much different from the circle of colleagues and friends you have now.
When I joined, I made an effort to find people whoL
- were geographically near me; or
- had a strong background/career connection.
I'd ususally introduce myself to these people with something along the lines of "I don't know if all the benefits LinkedIn talks about are true, but I do know that we have some things in common and it might be beneficial to swap some e-mail." No pitching myself as a consultant or employee. No hard sell. And no touting the value of "linking our networks." After all, the person you're contacting probably doesn't know you from Adam -- why should he or she care about your network?Mind you, it helps if you can write a polite, light, maybe slightly humorous email; as with so many aspects of the internet, it's not the meek but the communicators who will inherit the earth.
I've met good friends, current clients and connections who have led to projects. Hard to complain about something that produces results and costs nothing!
"It was a summer's tale: Just a boy, his Linux, and a head full of dreams..."
SFJOE, we need to store some boxes here, you don't mind do you. yeeeah, mmka. Oh, that Swingline stapler, I been looking for that. You don't mind if I just take that do you?
Sorry about the writing. Robot fingers, you know? Cliff Steele in DOOM PATROL #23
The largest foaf network in the world is warez scene. You know a guy who knows a guy etc.. and next thing you know, you have global network of interest groups who share their works.
My band uses MySpace.com to attract new listeners, and it's been the best. They should charge bands for this kind of exposure. Lots of new people at shows. When we post a show bulletin, people propagee the notices through the network, its a huge thing. Social networks are crazy good for bands. Oh, and there's lots of hot chicks too. Just beware the chicks who only take pictures from one particular angle. They're the fat ones. (they need love too).
As one's age moves past 22-23, the number of people one knows on it tends to drop precipitously, since it requires a .edu address (at a supported school, no less) and people tend to lose those over time.
Village idiot in some extremely smart villages.
Orkut, gah. I used to run a bunch of communities there, but I've been handing them off to others, since the system just doesn't like me. I'm down to two left, but one of those has over 11,000 members and was in the first thousand communities created on Orkut, so finding someone to take over it is a little harder.
After I hand each one off, I remain a member for a little while, then silently drop it. It's just not worth the stress to deal with bugs they haven't fixed in over a year.
Village idiot in some extremely smart villages.
...when I hear people talk about NETWORKING:
:-)
Whaddaya mean, can a network be anything other than hardware??
Ryze is supposed to be a business networking community based on the FOAF concept. I've had limited success promoting my digital photograpy forums there.
The friendliest digital photography forums on the net!
Some of those sites are useful when it comes to networking and finding jobs. There is another place you can also build your network is http://www.cozydating.com/