With all the demands on our time made by our business, professional and personal lives, it is tempting to assign a lower priority to peer networking as an activity designed to meet new people. After all, we have so many commitments at the office and at home — to colleagues, family and friends – that it is difficult to set aside extra time to bring even more people into our lives.
This thinking would be wrong, however, on two levels. For one, we are constantly being introduced to new people anyway, every day, with no disruption to our schedules. .
Secondly, by not consistently widening our circles of acquaintances and contacts through peer to peer networking, we may be severely curtailing our chances for advancement and success. It is estimated that the average person knows about 250 people. And each of those people knows, in turn, another 250 or so people. This means that for each new person you meet, you gain access to a potential pool of 62,500 people separated from you by just two degrees!
Imagine the odds, then, that out of so many people, you would NOT find one person who would be a source of information about a better job, additional clients or customers, a speaking engagement or writing assignment, an investment opportunity, where to shop for better value, and much more. In all likelihood, you would find many more than one.

Lime Wire LLC, maker of the popular LimeWire peer to peer network software, announced that it will open a digital music store.
Initially the store will be a stand-alone website, also accessible from links in the file-sharing software. Subsequent releases will enable users to browse and purchase music directly from within the LimeWire program. The first partners in the new digital channel are IRIS Distribution and Nettwerk Productions. These companies have signed deals with Lime Wire to provide music from their extensive catalogs. Lime Wire is banking on the popularity of peer to peer networks in marketing their new concept.
Songs in the LimeWire Store will be sold in the universally compatible MP3 format. Customers will be able to buy songs and albums “a la carte” or as part of monthly subscription plans.

The new profile features added to Digg.com are the first of many new peer to peer networking capabilities that will be added to the site. Officials said the new capabilities will let Digg.com users better interact and share content similar to other peer to peer network sites.
The user profile will allow users to personalize their Digg identity and to interact with people they designate as “friends” on the site, said Jay Adelson, Digg’s CEO.
With these changes, Digg.com is giving users the ability to say a little bit more about themselves [and] to establish for the first time ever private messaging between themselves and other users on the site.Users can also use the feature to select stories by topic, and to access stories their friends have submitted on commented on.
Before the end of the year, Digg plans to launch a an alerting feature to allow users to get email alerts like weekly or daily digests about stories on a particular topic or stories suggested by friends.  The site will also add a dedicated images section that will let users submit images to Digg, as well as an engine that will be used to recommend stories to individual users based on what that person’s particular interests.
Currently, Digg.com has so much more information coming in from all of these different peer to peer networking communities that they need to respond to that by giving these communities a place to thrive and allowing them to discuss things with each other or the public in general.

If you’ve heard of the term “peer to peer network” you probably associate it with a network of computers that share information.  However, the term peer networking, or peer to peer network is also becoming synonymous with a social networking or virtual communities.
A virtual community, e-community, or online community is a group of people that primarily interact via some form of mechanism such as letters, telephone, email or other social networking site rather than face to face. If the mechanism is a computer network, it is called an online community. Virtual and online communities have also become a supplemental form of communication between people who know each other primarily in real life. A computer-mediated community uses social software to regulate the activities of participants. Significant socio-technical change has resulted from the proliferation of Internet-based social networks.
In fact, social peer to peer networks are so important to business that many marketing experts agree that businesses that ignore this new form of social marketing do so at their own peril.

If you’re like many professionals, students, and entrepreneurs who attend networking events, you know one thing.  Peer networking  is a business lifestyle. In order to have a successful event, it is important to be ready for big success! How can professionals gear up for their next networking event? How can they make the most of the upcoming event and reach their peer to peer networking endeavors? How can they develop the right habits for on going networking success? Listed below are ways that professionals can maximize their networking abilities.
Confirm Your Attendance
At least 24 hours before the networking event, you should call or email to make sure that you are on the registration list. It is to your advantage that the company or organization hosting the event has all of your correct and current information. This keeps you on the list for upcoming networking events and allows them to pass along your contact information to interested business counterparts. Also, make sure that if there is a fee for the event, the organization or company has properly received your information and has charged you correctly.
Dress for Success
A great idea for getting ready for a networking event is to select your business attire the night before. This gives you ample time to select the right outfit that corresponds to the event that you are attending. It will also save you time the next morning to relax or review your objectives for attending the networking event. Of course, your business attire should look professional and appropriate. It should also be clean and properly pressed.
Cash On Hand
It is always a good idea to have cash available if there is an upfront fee for parking or an open bar at the networking event. Depending on the nature of the event, you may also need extra cash for tips and other services. Also, having cash allows you to be flexible in relation to having a credit card or using a check. Also this reduces the effects of being overcharged or over billed and also reduces identity theft.
Verify Networking Info
And last but not least, verify the date, time and venue of the networking event. Plan your trip if you are driving, or taking public transportation.  This will help you to anticipate traffic, construction, detours, etc. A great idea is to use the computer to find the proper directions to the event location and also call the organization or company to verify the directions just in case there is any confusion.

If you’re in business, or a working professional, chances are you don’t have much free time. With all the demands on our time made by our business, professional and personal lives, it is tempting to assign a lower priority to peer networking, or even label it  as an activity designed to meet new people. After all, we have so many commitments at the office and at home — to colleagues, family and friends – that it is difficult to set aside extra time for peer to peer networking, which will bring even more people into our lives.
This thinking would be wrong, however, on two levels. For one, we are constantly being introduced to new people anyway, every day, with no disruption to our schedules.
However, by not consistently widening our circles of acquaintances and contacts, we may be severely curtailing our chances for advancement and success. It is estimated that the average person knows about 250 people. And each of those people knows, in turn, another 250 or so people. This means that for each new person you meet, you gain access to a potential pool of 62,500 people separated from you by just two degrees!
Imagine the odds, then, that out of so many people, you would NOT find one person who would be a source of information about a better job, additional clients or customers, a speaking engagement or writing assignment, an investment opportunity, where to shop for better value, and much more. In all likelihood, you would find many more than one.

You’ve probably heard that people do business with those they know, like and trust. This is a simple truth. That’s why savvy business owners regularly invest their time and money to attend live seminars and meetings.
But just showing up at a peer networking  events is not the secret that will automatically reward you with a boost to your bottom line!  Sure, it’s great to get out of the office for a change of scenery, learn new information, and do some peer to peer networking with colleagues and/or new business prospects. But the real magic of live events happens AFTER the event is over. That is, if you know the real secret to effective networking.  Let me give it to you in just one word: Follow-up!
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve attended a live seminar or a local Chamber meeting where I had a productive conversation with someone who promised to stay in touch with me - never to be heard from again. Of course, I’ve been guilty of that same networking sin myself on occasion too.  So let’s be clear on this. Just showing up with good intentions won’t get you the results you want. To make peer networking profitable, you must be focused and proactive.

Qlique.com is the newest way to procrastinate on the Web. A new social networking Web site is joining the ranks of Facebook and MySpace to bring students the next generation of peer to peer networking.
One thing this new peer to peer networking site has done is built the site around college students, including setting up rivals with other colleges, fraternities and sororities and really built it to their liking.
The cool new features of this peer to peer networking site could catch on if more people use it. It’s a lot  more interactive than the standard social networking sites, and has games that you can set up with friends like poker and college trivia.
This web site stands apart from the first-generation features of Facebook and MySpace because of its live elements. It’s not just about viewing a profile or sending a message, but about peer to peer networking with various types of entertainment features. Everything is live and it’s about what’s happening around you just like your real-world social life.

So, have you decided to do some peer to peer networking?  Maybe you’ve even signed up to attend a business luncheon, or perhaps you want to share more on the professional social networks you belong to. But, as you head into that luncheon, you freeze. What ever could you have to offer? And, when you read the various postings on your business networking sites, you ask yourself why would anyone want to read YOUR post?
Welcome to the world of peer to peer networking. When creating a new business, or expanding a current business, entrepreneurs are always in need of support and guidance. None of us can succeed on our own. This is why having quality professionals to network with is key. One way to find other professionals to network with is through who’s who directories such as Madison Who’s Who.  If you ask almost any professional what one of the major keys to his or her success is, they will almost always tell you that professional networking has played a large role in their success.

While peer to peer networking is a term that is usually employed in the IT world, it is also now being applied to a type of social networking.  Thus the geek interpretation of a peer to peer network parallels nicely with how businesses and individuals alike are using social networking sites to network with their peers.
Social networking and business networking is essential to succeeding in today’s business world. A productive peer to peer network in business is, like a computer network, dependent on the power and energy that the participants in that network bring provide collectively.  A peer to peer network of lethargic and complacent people will never empower a career or promote a business. On the other hand, a peer network of motivated and business minded individuals can accomplish more than they ever could individually.
Be it news about opportunities, business innovations or the best techniques to achieve specific goals, a people peer to peer network can become the vital circuitry that wires a career and keeps it energized.