My keynote speech will be this April 24th, and I will be the first speaker for that day starting at 9:00AM, I'm a little bit nervous because I'm delivering my first ever keynote to a very different crowd, so I researched and also asked advice from my fellow online friends on how/what should I deliver a keynote to this event.
I will try to answer some of the topics that Bikoyski suggested and this will serve as my warm up before doing my real keynote and also that powerpoint presentation.
1. History of networking sites
I don't know where to start if I'm going to narrate the whole story of the history of social networking sites, my advice will be go google it and read it in wikipedia. But I might be able to narrate my own story on how I got into these social networking sites.
Meetup.com - I got invited by a user who is working in some animation studios. The meetup.com is a site that you can organize meet up and form your own online clubs and cliques. The forum of the site is very useful in tackling major discussions. Professionals and online clubs engage in to connect with other for a possible collaboration. I left the site after they disable other features and asked for some membership fee.
LinkedIN.com - I got invited by another user to join. Its a social networking sites for professionals and it is good to use it to connect with other business professionals who are connected to other users. The networking for business started here online at Linkedin. But I haven't used it properly and I left the site after not enjoying much of its activity online. Building your profile here is a must, and if you really like to be connected and meet other professionals, a powerful profile can attract them to add you and also work with you.
Friendster.com - My cousin who is in the US invited us to join in this networking site. I didn't know that I will enjoy its features and makes it as my first ever social networking sites that I got sticked for some couple of years and use it for the first time in marketing and promoting stuff online. Been a member since May 2003,and I say that it change a lot from back then, I remember that we were the only pinoys who are in that site, and its hard to get friend-add ons since others are foreigners, but then Friendster became popular and mass membership came in and I got the advantage in using it for marketing and also study the target market's behavior. I was labeled as a walking Friendster last 2004, it was a funny tag name as they say that many people are connected to me and I'm anywhere. I still use Friendster, and since many are still in there who uses it for family connection. I sometimes use Friendster in looking up people's profile and reputation, because all people are in Friendster, and I got a 90% chance that I can research their profile there.
Orkut.com - I got into this site from an invite of a friend who is in Australia, but I left the site after experience a slow loading of their site. It is similar to Friendster,but the site has their own blog feature and photo album.
Myspace.com - I joined because I heard that everyone is in here, then I left after being attacked by spammers and also cyber bullied by racists. I left the site and never think of going back again.
DeviantART.com - I just discovered this and found out that all my artists friends are in here, so I decided to join last 2004 and saw many pinoy artists are in there. The site is a great place for art portfolio, critiques and reviews. You can also get comments from other members and add you as they will Deviant Watch your updates and artwork uploads. The site has journal, you can write there and update everyone and make it as your own blog. DeviantART expanded and it was popular to young artists. They use the site to connect to professionals for work and also get art commissions as they will be paid via paypal or direct bank transfer.
Multiply.com - I was looking for a good photo album hosting and I just saw multiply.com has this feature, it was easy to use and I enjoyed uploading all my media files from music, videos and photos. It became my busiest social networking site after I became a member of it since 2005. I finally found a new ground for studying the market and also use the site as an internet marketing tool. And I see it is 200% effective, as I proved it from my event Toy Con, who expanded after I use the internet. From my interview at Inquirer.net, "Coladilla attributed the increasing size of Toycon to the Internet where collectors find each other through newsgroups, specialty collection sites or through trading websites."Many started trading collectibles through their mobile phones but it was the Internet that really boosted the industry."" Multiply is my 2nd home online and its my busiest social networking site. Iit connects me to the people who I wanted to be updated in my blog and promote something that falls under my interest.
Facebook.com - my latest social networking site, I didn't failed to use as I know there will be a time that it will be used for internet marketing. But I felt that Facebook is built for that kind of use. Another busiest site for me, and I almost visit this everyday. The Facebook is popular in tagging your friends in some photos and notes. The events page is very useful for marketing and inviting people, and the online promotion never stops., because if your friend is attending an event, you'll find it out in your news feed that they joined, and because you are curious to find out more about that event, you will be tempted to click and read the details. Also the fanpage and groups page is another useful tool in Facebook, were you can build your own online group and community, and update them by sending a mass message and also give members a chance to interact and contribute content.
Twitter and Plurk - Micro blogging is the new blogging trend of the year, and it is now popular as it can be read via internet and mobile. Updates can be posted in 2 liners and it interacts with your friends who are connected to your network. The status updates are the main content for micro blogging. Twitter became more popular today, as the people in the USA are going crazy over it. But here in the Philippines, some users get over with it as Twitter is popular last 2008, but everyone is in Plurk now as it was very convenient to update each other, and the comments management of the users are better than Twitter.
I guess this is my own short story of how I got into social networking sites. I still have more sites to feature, but above is my main list that I usually hang out online. Tomorrow, will post another that will serve as my warm up for the event.
The Social Networking and eBusiness Conference 2009
will be on April 23-24, 2009 at the Hotel Intercon, Makati City
visit http://socialnetworkphilippines.blogspot.com/ for more info and details
