>What about Plaxo?  I have had numerous people invite me to join them  on
>Plaxo.  Since know them I do, but I barely ever look at it.  There  is
>another one also but the name escapes me.  There are just so many and I 
>personally don't think you need to be on  everyone of them.  I think  one 
>should be selective if one is going to put themselves out there in the 
>universe.


Plaxo is the same thing only different.  It's nowhere near as robust as
LinkedInand doesn't have all of the groups and other features, which is in
some cases WHY some people use it as well.   (other business SNSes that come
to mind are Xing, Orkut, Ryze, ZeroDegrees)

It's sort of like a build as you go "Business People Yellow Pages"  You can
put much less info in there and still have some of the benefits of being
found and growing a network.  Similar to Trudy, I accept invitations from
others that I know, and when prompted by Plaxo that someone I know has
joined, I'll ask them to connect up... but I'm not rampant about it.

There are people who are what I refer to as real "contact whores" that will
seemingly connect with any and everyone whose name they've ever heard, and
personally, that's not how I want to use a social network, whether it's for
professional OR personal purposes.  Unless I REALLY know someone, which for
me means either phone conversations on multiple occasions, or having
actually "pressed the flesh" with them, I'm not really interested in making
a contact out of them, and I'm sure it's vice-versa.  

The way many people originally populate their accounts in these services is
to send out an "add message" to everyone in their address books... and
depending on which/how many e-mail addresses you include in your profile,
that can be a staggering number!  I know in my own case, I had included one
address I shouldn't have and when invites went out, one went to a
Listserv... (some of you may have seen this) because the addressee had used
that as their e-mail address.   

SO... be careful when you are building these social networks and think about
why you want them.  And as Peter suggested USE A NON-BUSINESS e-mail address
as your primary contact, because as we all know, jobs aren't forever.   

I can see if you're looking for new employment proactively or out of need,
the larger the population you cast your net over, the more opportunities you
may find... but if your desire is for a more focused, robust exchange with
people that you have things in common with that already are familiar with
who/what you are, consider paring down your list of invitations.

As for MySpace, Facebook, Friendster, Tribe.net, Nexopia, Bebo, Hi6,
Tagged... the more personal use SNSes?  Well, not necessarily MY cup of tea.
 I will admit I do have a MySpace account that lies dormant and is under a
'handle", not my name... I reluctantly opened it to get info on a new TV
show that I was interested in, but don't watch anymore.  AND I do have a
Facebook account, but use it for limited communications with only 4
individuals at this time, and NO... it's NOT under my name.

This is an issue that many will have opinions on that will differ, and that
stands to reason, after all it's a "social thing", right?

Larry
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