Online Social Networking (OSN) is in the news a lot lately. Never fear, business owners, executives and marketing departments, I'm here to introduce you to the options one site at a time.

Let's start out with The Big Three! No, I'm not talking about automobile companies. If your business currently does not maintain an online presence, I recommend you start with familiarizing yourself with LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter (in that order).


LinkedIn is a business-oriented social networking site which currently has over 40 million users. I like to think of LinkedIn as your online business card. In addition, your past college friends, colleagues and clients can locate you through past employment and college information you've provided. LinkedIn users are thought to be in an average executive salary bracket and well into their careers. This is most likely why staffing recruiters regularly view LinkedIn candidates more experienced. Over the years, LinkedIn has added many features to enable a fuller business communication between employer/employee and colleagues, such as:

• Mobile Capability (Smart Phones - iPhone and Blackberry)
• Project Status Updates
• Apps (Amazon reading list and SlideShare)
• Jobs (Paid posting throughout or Free posting through groups)
  
• Groups (organizations of individuals who share similar interests and goals)

^[update]Facebook is used by pretty much everyone at this point. Therefore, Facebook can be a great resource for learning about your demographic, staying in touch with clients, customers, employees, friends and family. What started out at Harvard as a communication tool for students has propelled itself as the largest and most utilized social networking website in the United States. As of October 2009, Facebook has more than 300 Million users. For Businesses, Facebook can be utlized for the following:

• Facebook Fan Pages - these can be set up by any Facebook user. They need to be connected to an actual person, preferably the business owner. However, that business owner can designate any one or more of his or her "fans" as the administrator. Updating company fan page status will send a message to all fans about the business. Examples of updates are job postings, press releases, blog articles, and customer reviews. Fans are also able to comment and add photos on the company's fan page. A company's fan page is a community forum for communication between a business and it's customers, clients and employees.
• Connect and stay up to date with your friends, family and customers. Business and pleasure meet in the world of Facebook.
  

Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that enables its users to send and read messages known as tweets. Tweets are text-based posts of up to 140 characters displayed on the author's profile page and delivered to the author's subscribers who are known as followers.

Think of Twitter as a news feed about your company, your personal whereabouts and, generally, anything you want to say to the general public. Regular Twitter users post micro-messages multiple times throughout the day. These messages range from what the user is doing during happy hour, links to an interesting blog article they're reading, advertisement for a product sale, link to their company blog and so on. Twitter is a great way to build a community of customers, clients, friends and family who find interest in your company and, ultimately, your tweets. One quick tip, do not get on Twitter and sell, sell, sell. Think about what you find valuable in someone you follow. Successful Twitter accounts (business and personal) possess a humanistic element that appeals to followers and encourages conversation within the community.
Twitter 101 by Twitter - This is a great resource for learning about Twitter for Business. You can find great case studies here, as well.
Twitter Guide Book by Mashable - This is extremely for learning about Twitter terminology that may seem foreign to you in the beginning.
Don't be scared. All you need to do to get started is set up an account. This shouldn't take more than a few minutes. Try to keep your username short as it counts in the 140 characters on each of your tweets. Sign up for a Twitter site here: www.twitter.com. Once you're signed up, just type in what you're doing. You're sure to be astonished at how many followers will be attracted to you right away.



Other Noteworthy OSN Websites for Business:


www.biznik.com
Biznik is an award-winning community of entrepreneurs and small businesses dedicated to helping each other succeed.



www.ecademy.com


http://econnect.entrepreneur.com/
By Entrepreneur.com, a meeting place for entrepreneurs. This is also a great place to check in daily for helpful resources and articles.


www.FastPitchNetworking.com
Market your company and connect with others.





www.plaxo.com
An enhanced address book.



www.ryze.com
Business Networking



www.spoke.com
This site is very similar to LinkedIn. I find it to be very useful, and it's gaining popularity everyday.


www.startupnation.com
By entrepreneurs. For entrepreneurs. Over 175,000 pages of award-winning business advice and networking.



www.upspring.com
Local Marketing and Networking Services for Businesses.



www.youngentrepreneur.com
Networking and Resources for Entrepreneurs


I hope you found this introduction to Online Social Networking for Business helpful. I'd love to hear your comments. What networks do you find most effective? Did I miss any of your favorites?