Chapter 18

Diving Into Social Networking

In This Chapter

arrow Generating traffic by letting visitors tell others about you

arrow Finding other bloggers and blogs with social networks

arrow Getting to know popular social-networking websites

Ever been “liked” on Facebook? Done any tweeting lately? What about endorsing someone on LinkedIn? Is this all gibberish to you? Welcome to the world of social networking, the hottest topic online in the last several years.

At first glance, social networking can look overwhelming and difficult to understand because it uses a lot of jargon and so many players are in the field. Never fear, however. Social networking is a simple concept: You can connect with others online by using a website or online service. At the very heart of it, social networking is the simple process of finding people you want to hang out with or connecting online with people you already hang out with.

The web has opened the door to meeting people who share your interests, but whose geography or professional careers — to name just a couple of possibilities — made it unlikely you would ever meet in “real” life. Social-networking websites are designed to bring together people who share hobbies, ...

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