Did you get your invite to the largest party in the history of the planet? I did.

Social Networking is THE modern day cocktail party. All of the cool people are there! The deal is that everyone is invited and there is no cover charge. For the sake of brevity lets just focus on the most dominate Social Networking site. Facebook just announced that they have 350 Million users. Now that is a big party! Ponder this, there are more people on Facebook than there are in the US! According the the latest census the US population is only 304 Million. Does that mean that everyone one in the US is on Facebook? Well, not yet. Facebook’s users are all over the planet.

Welcome to the new Party!

I invite you to look around and connect. Don’t be a wall flower. Enjoy and connect with friends and friends of friends. You are now your own channel. You can broadcast whatever you want to those around you and those around world. This is truly amazing. Before the internet, the guy down the street would have to stand on his soap box to be heard. Now he can sit in a comfortable chair and connect with hundreds if not thousands of people.

Business Friendly Mixer

It’s also an amazing tool that is changing the way people interact with businesses. People can get updates from a business that they work with or check them out to see if they’d like to work with them in the future. Businesses that have invested in building a good reputations over the years are now having us help them establish and maintain good reputations online. This is crucial to understanding the power of the internet.

But, before you jump in, I feel it is my responsibility to share how this party is different.

1) The Party is HUGE!

First, as we said, there are a lot more people here than your old school party. I have 375 precious FB Friends. ~:-) And they have friends of their own. If they all had just 100 friends each, our party would be over 37,000 strong. Disclaimer: Many of us share the same friends so the numbers are skewed…

2) Social Networking Never Forgets

Now you are partying with elephants. At your typical cocktail party you can complain or brag about something stupid that you did (or would like to do). In the morning, everyone will likely forget about what you said.  There is no “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.” When you make a post on a wall it remains forever (at least til Jesus returns). Let’s say that again. What you write on a wall stays online forever.

If you are going drink too much, talk bad about (boss, clients, friends, yo mamma, etc etc), skip work, or tell a lie…. Moral police! Don’t do it, and definitely don’t FB it.

Things like breaking the law hurting people and the like should be common sense to just not do.

3) No one can keep a secret

Some savvy folks might tell me that only their FB friends can read their stuff. Did you hear that FB just updated their privacy policy?! Founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, said, “We have focused on giving you the tools you need to share and control your information.” He is correct they have given us the tools. Those tools can and do change. The more public they make our information, the more profitable it is for their company.

Get a Life & Job

More employers are utilizing social networking sites to screen potential employees. Forty-five percent of employers reported in a recent CareerBuilder survey that they use social networking sites to research job candidates, a big jump from 22 percent in 2008. Another 11 percent plan to start using social networking sites for screening.

Enjoy Life & Network responsibly. ~:-)

God Bless, Oscar Myre IV

Oscar Myre IV is the owner and Creative Director of omOriginals Marketing! If your business has web development, social marketing or internet marketing questions, please stop by or give us a buzz at the studio: 360.575.9839