I'm indebted to Danah Boyd for so clearly explaining how different social segments find it important to join certain online groups. Also for the insight that while we might call these groups "social networks", when young people join these groups they are not "networking" in the sense most of us would understand. So this form of joining behaviour is like wearing a colours, or a badge, or branded jeans, or the right brand of sport shoe, or being part of the "right" cell phone network. My self image tells me which choice is appropriate for me. It's a from of personal branding, not really linking or friending or connecting in the way someone like me (I'm 65) might imagine. The article in US Airways Magazine, "Welcome to the Social (Network)", by Daniel Tynan goes on to explain that because of web 2.0 influences many sites on the Internet allow people to offer site content, and to "brand" that content with their proper names or their chosen Internet names. Once again this is not networking, but it is using the power of many to create a resource for other "people like me", since if you are not "like me" you would never find your way to this "space". Search engines will pick up your name or your brand in most of the places where you are active. By using these sites we leave traceable tracks of ourselves. Most of the young people using MySpace or Facebook or Bebo are not thinking about "building a personal brand" but that is the task they have begun. Besides it's an important task, one that we all need to learn. A MySpace page you've put effort and time into is certainly one way to begin. David Teten and Scott Allen in their book "The Virtual Handshake; Opening Doors and Closing Deals Online" devote a chapter to "Building Your Virtual Presence" (CH5). Lauren M Squires, inspired this letter today by suggesting that we are all in real life social networks so that Daniel Tynan's comment: "If you don't belong to some kind of (online) social network, you soon may not belong anywhere." was too strong. ("... This usage got my goat, for whatever reason" LS) While I agree that the words Daniel Tynan chose are immoderate, the sentiment he is expressing is in the right direction. The value of the Internet for each of us evolves out of the social contacts that we build online. "All learning is social." ... "We learn best from people like ourselves." ... "Children learn more quickly and easily if the teacher is a person who shares the same culture as the child." I'm sure you know many similar quotes. While it's true that in the real world most of us can find the contacts we need, the Internet make is possible to build social contacts across geographic and political and religious boundaries. The great promise of the Internet is better understanding and more informed decision making and greater innovation because we live in the "information age". You get a clue from the term "information age" that "information" is a resource or a tool that you can "get" by paying a price of some kind. That price might be $1.20 for a newspaper, or $150.00 for a technical report, or it may be the time cost of being a member of air-l listserv. However very often the key to my access to the information I need is to be a MEMBER of LinkedIn, or Ryze, or Viadeo, or Xing or TEN. In my activity as a member I slowly identify certain people who are "like me" and when I see their names attached to comments, I would otherwise ignore, instead I pay special attention. When you are "known" to more people, your messages posted to lists like this or to web sites will be read by more people. That so many people on this list are familiar with MySpace and Facebook but not Bebo (The current hit in NZ schools I understand) tells us something about who's here. The original social network that became very popular was Ryze. That network looks fairly old hat now, but it still has some very active discussion networks in English, and it's growth rate remains steady. I strongly recommend to you all the value of LinkedIn. It's not obvious what to do there, because there are no discussion boards, but it's a great way to display your personal work record and history in a form less formal than a CV. And the Answers section of LinkedIn is a valuable resource. Depending on where you live and your interests joining one or two other online social networks is likely to be useful. Since many of you are university focused Academici might appeal to you. Academici was built on the same base as OpenBC and run out of Germany. It functions in 16 different languages. There was some problem with continuing to use the OpenBC software platform and Academici had to shift their entire membership to a new system. It's been messy and it took almost a year. A lot of goodwill has been lost. But the initiative is still valuable. Your support would be appreciated. Drop me a private note and I'll send you an invitation. Here's the site: http://www.academici.net/ John -- "John Stephen Veitch" http://www.ate.co.nz/ http;//www.ate.co.nz/networking/ By all means Google me.