SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS: Business and Personal

We have so many ways to communicate now that it seems just talking on the phone has become blasé. We text, we imessage, we tweet, we post, we chat, we email, the list goes on, and now we do most of it on our phones. They have gone from just being phones to being Social Media Platforms themselves. You can send multiple texts, movies, or pictures to multiple people at once. They are called Smart Phones because they are literally smart. They do anything and everything for us now. We use them to do our banking, our travel plans, our grocery shopping, etc., and they just keep getting smarter. It's incredible and I don't think it's going to change anytime soon. It seems like regardless of what type of social networking you are using at any given time for any given reason, you are now doing it on your phone. The best Social Networking sites are keeping up with this trend and making it possible to do everything you can from your phone that you can do from your computer. This has got to give them an ultimate advantage. 
I tend to stick to the same few Social Networking sites for personal use and business. I know that I need to expand my Social Networking world now that I am going to attempt to use it as another advertising outlet for our company. The few business and personal Social Networking sites that I do frequent are listed below.

Etsy - A great site if you are crafty. I really like this site and use it because of the variety of items you can find. They have everything. The only two rules are that your items either have to be home made or vintage. It is a great site if you have this type of business. I use Etsy for birthday and Christmas shopping or when I am looking for a specialty item. It has a big social networking aspect to it and an incredible choice of home businesses to choose from.

Facebook - I have had a profile on here since about 2004. It was fairly new at that time and something my friends back home in Hawaii were really getting in to. They talked me into joining, saying it would be easier for me to keep up with what was going on at home. Turned out they were right. I have been able to watch my friends grow up and turn into adults, then watch their kids grow up and see changes happening in their lives, good and bad. It definitely started out as a personal website, but has grown into a world wide phenomenon and is the most used social networking site. Lately it has become just as much a business site as it is a personal site. I just recently started a Facebook profile for our company and I am very excited to begin working on it.

Flixter - This may not be a usual pick for a social networking site, but I think that I use it that way. Whether we are in town or out of town on vacation, I have used this site for more than just what movies are playing. I will use it to find movie theaters and specialty movie theaters. I also use it to to watch movies trailers, but the main thing I use it for is the reviews. There are more than a few movies I've skipped because of the reviews on Flixter. It is definitely a business networking site and I have found some great out of the way theaters and have seen some great movies because of it.

Google - It is the ultimate social networking business site. I use the Google search engine all day everyday for a variety of tasks, but the number one reason I use it is to find businesses. Regardless of what kind of business I need or why, I can find it on Google. I do not remember the last time a searched for a business and did not find it, or anything else for that matter. After finding the business, I then use Google maps, to locate the business and get directions, but not untill after I have read the reviews.

LinkedIn - Mainly a business and professional networking site. I did have a profile on here for a while, but did not find it useful and received too many junk emails because of it. I also had more people requesting to friend me interested in the Social aspect of it than the business aspect of it. I decided LinkedIn wasn't benefiting me and closed my profile down.

Myspace - It totally began as a personal social networking site, but has gone on to bigger things. I had a Myspace profile when it first came out, but social networking sites were still so new at that time, at least to me they were, that I didn't spend much time on it. Then Facebook came in to our lives and Myspace was all but forgotten. I do know that recently Justin Timberlake purchased a big share of Myspace. He has kept it a personal site, but now with a huge emphasis on music. If you are a musician its a business site for you.

Yelp - This is absolutely a business social networking site and a great one at that. There are very few businesses that I frequent, online or in person, that I haven't checked out on Yelp. It is at most times pretty accurate. It has become so popular that you can usually find up to date reviews. They have business reviews and ratings. I trust their ratings and find them extremely helpful. I don't know if I haven't found a business I was searching for on Yelp, but I don't think so. They also advertise businesses and are probably mostly funded by the advertising.