One of the most productive things you can do on Facebook is to create an event. The numbers of Facebookers taking advantage of this great marketing tool are increasing every month. Your event could be a live event (a Business or Small Business mixer, a networking event or Seminar, etc), a teleclass or tele-seminar or even a recorded presentation. By using the Events feature to it’s fullest you can connect with huge numbers of Facebook Users. To make your event a super success follow the 9 SIMPLE steps outlined below.

1. To set up an event, just go to your Facebook profile and click the link in the left hand navigation area that says “Events” (it’s just below the search bar in the “Applications” area). Next, look for the button on the right that reads, “Create an Event”. Click it and your good to go.
2. On this next page you get to name your event. This is probably your most important step. You want to make the name of your event create curiosity and interest. Be clever but not too clever. The name of your event should leverage your  expertise. People want to go to an event lead by an expert! Here’s your chance to be recognized as an expert which, in turn, breeds credibility amongst your Facebook peers.

   **One important note: Once you name an event, IT CANNOT BE CHANGED!

   If you are using a Facebook Event to introduce your Business, Small Business, product or service, you want to make  sure that you open your event to the entire Facebook community, you never want to limit the potential attendance.

3. List your Event Tagline, your Host’s name (that’s  you or one of your groups) and the type of event planned (you have choices like “Party”, “Causes”, “Education”  and “Meetings”). I like Education and/or Meetings.
4. Next you’re going to add the description of your event.

   The Event description is  also a very valuable bit  of real estate. You want to make it brief but full of the reasons why this event MUST BE ATTENDED! List the benefits for the attendees. There are 2 things you must accomplish in this brief event description:

   1. ETR - Stands for Earn The Right - who are you and why should I listen to you.
   2. WIIFM - “What’s In It For Me” - List the benefits for the attendees. You need to provide them  with all the compelling evidence needed for  them to attend YOUR event.

5. Make sure to fill out the rest of the required info on this page and click  the “Create Event” button.

   Note: If your event is a tele-class, tele-seminar or webinar, list that in the Location Field.

6. On the next page, you will (yes, WILL) add a picture for your Event. No one is going to take you seriously and attend your event if you don’t bother to add a picture. Ask yourself: Would you?”
7. You are given a lot of other options on this page. Most of the defaults are fine but I would disable “Photos” and “Videos”. There is no reason that I can think of to allow others to post pics or videos on your event page. We want to limit distractions.

   Do however, allow posted items. If you can get people engaged and talking on your Event page, you mission is nearly accomplished!

8. Once you have uploaded your Event Picture and selected the rest of the event settings, you are ready to “Save and Continue”. (The blue button on the bottom…)
9. The Final step is to invite ALL your friends. Make sure you send along a message and invite them to share this event with others.

That’s all there is to it. Now go have a successful event!

There is a great article in the new Fast Company Magazine all about the do it yourself social network “”Ning”.

The article begins by letting us in on a little secret:

Here’s something you probably don’t know about the Internet: Simply by designing your product the right way, you can build a billion-dollar business from scratch. No advertising or marketing budget, no need for a sales force, and venture capitalists will kill for the chance to throw money at you.

The secret is what’s called a “viral expansion loop,” a concept little known outside of Silicon Valley (go ahead, Google it — you won’t find much). It’s a type of engineering alchemy that, done right, almost guarantees a self-replicating, borglike growth: One user becomes two, then four, eight, to a million and beyond. It’s not unlike taking a penny and doubling it daily for 30 days. By the end of a week, you’d have 64 cents; within two weeks, $81.92; by day 30, about $5.4 million.

Yeah we all remember that little game, “I’ll give you $1 Million today or one single penny and double everyday for a month, which would you rather have?

Me? I’ll take the “Viral expansion loop” - but I want to call it the “Viral Spiral”.

This article goes on to explain how the viral loops (spirals) work as an accelerant for internet businesses - take Google, PayPal, YouTube, eBay, Facebook, MySpace, Digg, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Flickr as good examples.

So where does Ning fit in?

Well they use this concept on steroids! What they’ve got going is a “double viral loop”.

Only Ning, Andreessen declares, benefits from a “double viral loop,” which spreads two ways, because every network creator is a user and any user can become a network creator. Say someone sets up an Angelina Jolie net with 10 members, which grows as each person draws in others. Then an adoption site breaks off, a Jon Voight hate group rises up, and a Brad Pitt love club forms. Meanwhile, a Lara Croft nostalgia net launches, spawning a legion of soft-core cyberporn spin-offs. Soon you have 2, 3, 10 networks — all expanding simultaneously. Meanwhile, the original group is attracting even more users. Ning swells like a river fed from an ever-growing number of tributaries.

You can read the rest of the article here

I figured since I had absolutely nothing better to do I’d compile a list of social networking sites. 230 or so. . .

Enjoy, explore, good night, good luck

TECHNOLOGY:

Slashdot
Dzone - Developers
CSS Globe
DNHour - Domain Name News

Pixel Groovy - Web design
Design Float - Web design
Leet Daily
DevelopersNiche

INTERNET MARKETING:

PlugIM
Sphinn

NEWS:

Digg
Netscape
Reddit
Newsvine
News Heat - Politics
Sk*rt
Shoutwire

Wobblog
Content Pop
Blogg-Buzz

SOCIAL BOOKMARKING:

del.icio.us
Ma.gnolia
Furl
AllMyFavorites

Blinklist
Blogmarks
Blummy
BuddyMarks
BookmarkTracker
Chipmark
Connectedy
De.lirio.us
Dogear

Favoritoo
FeedMeLinks
Foxmarks
Fungow
Linkatopia
Livemarks
Mobilicio.us
Mylinkvault
Socializer

SHOPPING:

AgentB
Dealigg
Yub
BiddingBuddies - For Ebay members
ThisNext
Zebo
Judy’s Book

Deal Comet

MUSIC:

Purevolume - Music
Last.fm
Buzznet
MOG
Soundpedia

IM/MOBILE:

Twitter
Pownce
FlickIM
IMified
Radar
Zannel

PHOTO SHARING:

Flickr
Photbucket

Fotolog
Fotki
My Opera
Zoomr
Text America
Picli

VIDEO SHARING:

YouTube
Broadcaster

Panjea
Revver
Viddler
Video Bomb
Video Sift

EDUCATION AND LIBRARIES:

Shelfari
LibraryThing
BookCrossing

Good Reads
Book Tribes
Connect via Books
qoolsqool

ART:

Humble Voice - Art, music, video, photography
Virb - Music, art, fashion, film and more

imeem - Music, videos, photos
deviantART

SOCIAL ACTION:

TakingITGlobal
Care2 - Social Issues/Humanities
Hugg - Environmental

Planet Change - Environmental

LANGUAGE AND CULTURE:

Amina - Chechen Republic
Wamba - Spanish social network
Black Planet - African American

Hyves - Dutch
IRC Galleria - Finland
iWiW - Hungary
LunarStorm - Sweden
Playahead - Sweden

MiGente - Latino
Mixi - Japan
Nexopia - Canada
ClubGh - Ghana
Acelerame - Spanish (cars)

Scoopeo - French
Yigg - German
StudiVZ - German students

LINK/WEBSITE:

StumbleUpon
Blue Dot

Trailfire
Ensiting

CARS:

CarDomain
AutoSpies
Boompa
Motorpulse

TRAVEL:

TravBuddy

WAYN
Gusto
Couch Surfing
Travellerspoint
Woophy
EveryTrail - GPS
Trip Advisor
TripUp

REAL ESTATE:

Trulia
Zillow

FOOD, WINE AND THE GOOD LIFE:

RateItAll
Yelp
Cork’d - Wine reviews
Chowhound - Food

Epinions

PROFESSIONAL:

LinkedIn
MeetIn
Ryze
Xing
Biznik
Cofoundr - Entrepreneurial

Fast Pitch
Konnects
StartupNation - Entrepreneurial
Startupping - Internet entrepreneurs
Tapped In - Educational professionals
Ecademy

DATING:

Flirtomatic
OkCupid
Chemistry

SCHOOL RELATED:

Classmates
Friends Reunited
Dodgeball
Graduates

Meetup
MyYearbook
Reunion
ConnectU

MEDICAL RELATED:

Sermo - Doctors
Disect Medicine
Walker Tracker

Who is Sick?

TEENS:

eCRUSH
eSpintheBottle
Piczo
Profile Heaven
Sconex
Student.com
Stardoll

KIDS:

imbee

PARENTING/FAMILY:

Babbiz
Moxie Moms
GreatSchools - Parents review schools

FAMILY:

Geni

WebBiographies

CHRISTIAN:

MyChurch
Blogs4God
Xianz
GodTube - Video sharing

SPORTS:

Joga - Soccer (Football)

Sportsvite
Ballhype - Sports
ScoreGuru
SportsCast
SportsFlip

GAMES:

Gaia - Games and anime

Game Diggity
GuildCafe
WeeWorld

ANIMALS:

Dogster - Dog lovers
Catster - Cat lovers
Fuzzster

Pikapet

THE BIG ONES:

MySpace
Facebook
Trig
Friendster
Orkut
Bebo
CyWorld

LiveJournal
Grono
Tribe
Hi5
Jaiku
Multiply
Netlog
Passado
Skyrock

Tagged
AIM Pages
Yahoo! 360
Everyone’s Connected
Windows Live Spaces
Zaadz

9rules
Beautiful Society - List and vote for your favorite things

43 Things - Goal sharing
Consumating
Dandelife - A social biography network
DontStayIn - Clubbing
Experience Project - Share Life Experiences

Faceparty - “The biggest party on Earth”
Gather
Recruiting.com
Ning - Create your own network
Searchles
Vampire Freaks
Faqqly - Community of questions and answers

Ficlets - Collaborative writing
Global Voices
Spout - Films
Prosper - People to people lending
DigStock - Financial

Clipmarks
Listible

There are a bunch of social media websites that you can become a part of today like Myspace and Twitter, and they all have their good and bad. The best way to choose a community to become a part of is to evaluate the people who are members. In my opinion, Facebook is one of the best internet meeting places for networking - both personally and professionally. I also use Linked In and Myspace. Of all the social networks, Facebook is the best website when it comes to all around marketing and networking.

I have been using Facebook for the past two years, and it is an outstanding tool to add to your marketing arsenal. Following are 10 steps you can use on Facebook to introduce new people to your for FREE!

1. Build an Excellent Profile: This is absolutely the FIRST thing that you must do to make an impact on Facebook . Think of your Facebook profile as part of your branding strategy. A effective profile will include a picture of you. Don’t use the one of you doing shots at the local bar, unless that’s what your selling. Make sure your new Facebook profile is complete. You should include your contact information, your website address (this is very important), education, work history and your personal interests. A complete profile is the only way to go.

2. Add Friends: This is what sets Facebook apart - the ability meet new people, build relationships and sustain them. The more friends you have, the more profitable your marketing efforts will be. You can use Facebook’s own tools to find friends that already belong to Facebook. Once you add your friends, you can search for kindred spirits. Make their acquaintance, become their friend, build a relationship. One unique feature on Facebook is that you can see friends of your friends. This will help you build a monstrous network in no time.

3. Join Groups: You can join online groups on Facebook that are associated with what you do. There are groups for filmmakers, musicians, and experts of all kinds. Almost every supposable kind of professional service provider has some kind of group on Facebook. I belong to many Facebook groups and have made tons of new contacts this way.

4. Create your Own Facebook Group: Can’t find a group that really fits? Create your own! You can add members, publish articles, initiate some great discussions, and surely find quite a few new people. And even if you find good group to belong to, start your own. This gives you the chance to be the trendsetter!

5. Syndicate your Blog Using RSS: You can syndicate your own blog on your personal profile page. This essentially means that every time you make a post, it will automatically show up on your profile page. More Exposure = More Readers = More Leads = More Business. And the bonus is the back links to your site. I syndicate headlines from three of my blogs on Facebook.

6. Comment on Other Peoples Profiles: Are you a follower or admirer of someone’s work? Reach out to them on Facebook! Lots of my business contacts check their Facebook messages more repeatedly than their email. They are also more likely to respond to Facebook messages. Don’t feel quite right sending out a message to someone you don’t know? Don’t worry! Leave them a “just saying hi!” or “Your cool!” comment on their wall. All profiles come with “virtual walls” where visitors can leave a comment. The more messages you leave on your friend’s Facebook profiles the more exposure you get!

7. List your Events: Launching a New Service? Create an events page and invite everyone you want. You can even see who RSVPed and get feedback from your guests. Marketing doesn’t get much simpler (or cheaper!) than this.

8. Send Virtual Gifts: Want to show your appreciation for someone? Send them a virtual gift. You can choose from a bunch of Flowers to a potted plant that actually sits on the your friends profile and grows over time (plus hundreds of others). With all the third party applications for gift giving available, what are you waiting for. This is a proven way to build strong relationships!

9. Use Some Cool Apps: Facebook has literally tons of applications that were built just for the site. Event planners, testimonial gatherers, News and more. When you use an application, you get to invite your friends to use these interesting mini applications (Apps). So just like number 8 above, this allows you another way to interact with your friends on Facebook. Again, this helps you build strong relationships.

10. Create a Community: More than likely Facebook’s greatest benefit is that it allows you to build a community. It intoduces you to a group of people who are constantly connected to you, and your Facebook friends are open to hearing your message. Write on people’s walls, give them feedback, and introduce them to each other. Start building your brand and leveraging Facebook for business building!

Facebook is a wonderful place to introduce yourself to a bunch of new people who may also become customers and/or clients. Just remember one thing: don’t get too carried away and spend all your time there. Facebook is a tool, part of your business strategy. Use the tips above, use them wisely and have a little fun at the same time.

Finally an article in the mainstream press that gets it. In today’s Los Angeles Times there is (was, if your reading this another day) a very goood article about Facebook. The article, titled: Heads are turning to Facebook really does a great job of explaining the position that Faceboook finds itself in today.

As The Article explains, Facebook started in a Harvard University dorm room less than four years ago, and first spread like wildfire among college students. Last year, it opened membership to the world, and the wildfire is still raging. Facebook now has more than 54 million users, second among social networking sites behind only Beverly Hills-based MySpace. And it’s sucking up Web traffic and Silicon Valley engineering talent.

Facebook is taking some of the attention away from Silicon Valley darling Google. And why is it gettting all this attention? The social networking site’s rocketing growth, cheeky business strategies and staggering valuation. Speaking of valuation, Facebook’s 23-year-old co-founder and chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, suddenly finds himself in a position to one day replace Google co-founder Sergey Brin as the technology industry’s youngest self-made billionaire. This thanks a $15 billion market valuation.

Pretty amazing stuff considering that not long ago everyone sat slack-jawed at the $500 million+ pricetag that MySpace commanded.

Read the LA Times Article here.

Google may have just come out of nowhere and checkmated Facebook in the social networking power struggle. Oh really. . .

MySpace and Six Apart will announce that they are joining Google’s OpenSocial initiative. Silicon Alley Insider reported the MySpace rumor earlier today. We’ve confirmed that from an independent source, as well as the fact that Six Apart is joining. Per the update below, Google has also confirmed Bebo is joining.

This according to Tech Crunch

Facebook is publicly saying they have not officially talked to Google about OpenSocial. Although sources say that that Facebook and Google have been talking about OpenSocial…including today. So pleading ignorance won’t last as a strategy for dealing with the OpenSocial movement.

You gotta love it. . . intrigue running rampant. Personally, I think it’s so cool that Google is developing this platform! Remember my previous post and my theory about Google’s bid attempt (?) for that coveted piece of Facebook. . .

I’m gonna have to learn how to build apps!

If you would ask this question, ‘Which one is more important the mailing list or the product?’ any savvy marketer would answer you, ‘The mailing list’.

Principally, any wise business person puts the importance of hungry demand (and not just any demand) in front of the product. In other words, there is no product if there is no demand! And a mailing list represents the demand or your business if you would like to call it.

If you frequent the Joint Venture forums and membership sites of any kind, you will find that product and service owners need mailing list owners more than the other way round. This is because the mailing list owners have the prospects that the other type of partner is looking for to sell to.

And if you are a mailing list owner, you do not have to necessarily make money from selling your own product. You can sell advertising space or craft a Joint Venture with product owners in return of commissions, recurring or not.

Most of the biggest success web businesses on the Internet today often establish the mailing list (or subscribers) first before the product. One fine example is Facebook.

Facebook, in the nutshell, is a website that connects friends and potential friends from around the world through a free membership access.

While Facebook does not make money from the number of members who join the site, the business makes money from selling advertising space and partnering with other big time merchants and businesses, owing to the established number of members Facebook has recruited.

This business is perfect example that demonstrates why every business should establish a need or demand before the product itself, and why you should do the same, whether you run a friends site or not.

Copyright and privacy infringement may be taking place on an unprecedented scale, but that doesn’t mean existing laws are irrelevant

From “podcast” to “poke”, “wiki” to “weblog”, the internet generation has a language all of its own. But since web guru Tim O’Reilly popularised the phrase “Web 2.0″ in 2004, even those who never considered themselves internet-literate have worked the new technology into their daily lives. Facebook, the social networking phenomenon, dominates water cooler conversations everywhere, having gained a staggering 42 million users since its worldwide launch in 2006. YouTube, which was founded as recently as 2005, attracts some 100 million page views a day.

Thus begins a great article in the London Times on the 23rd (October). The numbers are astonishing, yes, but the question still remains, “How do we utilize the possibilities of Web 2.0 for business?

Facebook, which I call a grown up MySpace is pretty cool. Yet it still isn’t easy to reach your target audience, or is it. Creativity is the name of the game. Facebook apps (a product of the web 2.0 consciousness) are beacons of hope in the sometimes confusing new world of web 2.0. Yeah, even though the term was invented in ‘04, no one knew what the hell it meant until yesterday (or so it seems). With the ability to use these mini applications built just for faceboook to do things like show rss feeds of your blogs right on your profile page, connecting with a chosen demographic just got a little easier. No blatent selling, unlike the old MySpace, but be honest and deliver compelling content and suddenly Facebook becomes a great lead generating tool.

To be continued. . .