Networking

Everyone knows the term “social networking” or “social networks” by now. Most people are a member of a social site weather it be myspace, friendster, or some other site. There are literally 1000’s of different social sites. Some are more social than others and some probably shouldn’t even call themselves “social. but since that’s the big thing now days, everyone jumps on the bandwagon.

Basically it’s come to the point where everyone and every different group has their own little online club. They are generally broken down in the following ways.

The first, and biggest social groups are general sites like myspace where anyone and everyone signs up. There is no deciding factor on who should signup. If you’re looking to meet people in your area, Myspace is usually your best bet because of its HUGE userbase. I don’t know the exact number of members, but they have millions. Each town you can find 1000’s of your peers with an account, even tiny towns have a good presence on the site.

Second, you have social sites that target by race or religion, or even sexual preference and even, like this site, political preferences. These are definitely smaller than normal social sites but the members also seem to have a much tighter bond. Sort of like a small town feel where everyone knows everyone.

Third you have geo-location social sites. For example we have one in my town called Fort Myers Business Networking. I’m not a member myself because they charge money and I’m definitely not going to pay for something that should be free. But most decent sized towns do have social sites, just search Google for something like “[your town] social” and things will pop up.

Weather you like it or not social sites are going to remain popular. Just like social groups in real life have always been around, we will always have social sites on the web too.

"How do we use RTP website" is the name of a blog post over at RebuildTheParty's ning network.  The author of the piece offers this advice:

A couple of folks, responding to my blogs, have asked how we use this website beyond just chatting. Good point. Here is how I intend to use it. 1. To identify activists in my home state (MD) and get them to start to organize events as our network builds. 2. To identify people with particular talents (IT or otherwise) or particular expertise in subject areas that allow us to organize and to respond to the lies put out by the Democratic Administration and the media. 3. To work for and fund specific candidates that support our views and positions. I believe this website was designed to be a tool, not an end in itself. It can be useful for seeking information and resources, but the rest is up to us.

I completely agree.  These technologies will not change the face of Congress tomorrow, nor will they give us a Republican President today.  But they give us the opportunity to be ready for 2010 and to be ready to take the fight to the liberals.  Never again will we be caught flat footed.

This is my advice: Network, network, network. Find fellow travelers, exchange ideas and interests, extend your network online (twitter, facebook, youtube, blogs) and offline (events, phone, fundraising, campaigning, etc). We have a lot of networking to do to surpass the libs.