Some of the best advice I ever received starting out in the business world concerned the value of networking. Online communication tools like LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter as well as mainstays like IM and email make it easier than ever (sometimes too easy) to network with other like-minded individuals.
Search marketers tend to be a tech savvy lot so I suspect many Online Marketing Blog readers are likely users of these online communications and networking tools. But which ones? Which are most productive? That leads us to this weeks Reader Poll question:
What is your top online communication and networking tool?
- Email (31%, 17 Votes)
- Social Networks (Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace) (27%, 15 Votes)
- Blogs (15%, 8 Votes)
- Instant Messaging (9%, 5 Votes)
- Social Apps (Digg, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube) (7%, 4 Votes)
- Forums (5%, 3 Votes)
- None of the above. I network offline. (5%, 3 Votes)
- Discussion Threads (0%, 0 Votes)
Total Voters: 55
Loading ...We’re gearing up for a very large (in scope and promotion) TopRank Search Marketing Resources Survey, so please leave suggested online networking tools we’ve not included in the survey above in the comments. We’ll consider them when creating the industry resources survey.
That’s an incredibly tough question.
I think I have a three-way tie with Social Networks, Social Apps, and Instant Messaging (where the former two fail). 🙂
Hi, My name is Leonardo and I run a Marketing Blog in Brazil.
I´m fan of your work.
I´like to ask you which app do you use in your blog to control this pool questions?
I´d like to put some questions to my readers like you do.
I use blogger.com. Is there a way to do such thing?
Thanks in advance.
Leo
Hello Leo,
We use WP-Polls which you should be able to find here:
http://lesterchan.net/portfolio/programming.php
Tamar & I seem to be in the same hole.
As an aside, I think Twitter’s got plopped into the wrong box.
What I would say is, the three options that Tamar and myself have highlighted form what I call my social workflow.
I often initiate a dialogue on Digg, StumbleUpon, ‘blogs et cetera, then build upon that with other social portals before taking the conversation to IM, like MSN Messenger or preferably Skype…
It’s a tie b/w social networks & blogs. I’m anxious to see the final survey results…
Definitely a close three way tie for me (Social Networking, Blogs and Email), still Email for the most part, take a slight lead.
IM I find is for a more personal contact, I wouldn’t want to be disturbed during the day via IM by some random person or vice versa.
Email is the clear leader atm, and on a professional level I think will always remain the most reliable and direct method of online communication.
You threw two separate activities into the same poll though, that’s a sin unless you were to mix up the answers (eg. Blogs for email, Email for communication). For networking I’d go with Social Networks (MyBlogLog, MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn)