Madison Who’s Who Blog

Peer to Peer networking can help in all aspects of growing a business. From learning who to contact to create your marketing materials to how to set up your office, who to consider when ready to incorporate, to how to deal with particular types of clients all can be discussed with others. It can also help to answer questions that maybe you don’t know where to go to ask. Peer networking not only gives you a network of professionals with whom to consult, but gives you the opportunity to share your insights with those who may be new business networking. Building these bonds of friendship can pay off huge dividends down the road. A colleague has become a very good friend and also someone who often refers organizations to me for speaking engagements. Both of these are examples of how peer to peer networking helps with business.

In order for peer to peer networking to really help you grow your business, you have to be seen. Don’t attend just one or two networking events a year, or post an email every couple of months, and expect to become known in your geographical location or specialty. People have to see you often, and for a long period of time. They have to get to know who you are and what you are like. They must know you are a permanent part of the community and are there for others, as well. They need to know you care enough to show up.

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.

Is it possible that social and peer to peer networking is damaging your social life? But is it such a reach to imagine that social networking in one way or another has had some negative impact on your social life?

The fact is, if you’re not careful, social networking can very well impose upon your “real” life. Millions of people these days find themselves rushing home from school and work to log on and see what happened while they were away, what did their “friends” say, has anyone new visited their profile, all of which are questions asked by social addicts. What did all of these people do before MySpace, Facebook and other peer to peer networking sites become available? 

It would be safe to assume that rather than rushing home to the Internet they maybe stopped by a friends house, or took their family out to a nice dinner, or possibly they met some friends for drinks on a Friday night. All of these are classified as social behavior, you are building a community around reality, around life rather than a box filled with wires and circuit boards. Aside from the fact that you now don’t get out much, lets say you are very popular online and have built a very lengthy list of friends across several platforms. That makes this theory wrong then, right? No, not at all. The term friends has become nothing more than a marketing ploy. It’s not nearly as interesting and friendly to call them your MySpace internet acquaintances Whom You Have Never Met.

Consider this, would you ever ask the people from your friends’ list to dinner, or how about to a ball game, I doubt it because you don’t really know them, you have no idea who is actually behind the profile you know so well, so you would probably not feel very comfortable inviting them over. While peer to peer networking and social media is an important networking tool, it shouldn’t replace the real world networking that takes place between your “real world” friends.

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.

Social and peer to peer network sites such as Facebook and MySpace are causing headaches for some college administrators. The University of Ohio has been flooded with calls from parents requesting room mate, or dorm room changes for their children.  Apparently, parents are using social networking sites to check up on their children’s room mates, as well as their living quarters. 

The University of Ohio reported that before this academic year they had about 45 requests which have been directly attributed to information that somebody saw on the Facebook site.  This is a the largest of roommate change requests they have ever seen before school even starts. Thanks Facebook, oh, and who ever said parents aren’t internet savvy?

The peer networking website Facebook has agreed to change the way it handles complaints in an attempt to protect children from sexual predators and inappropriate content. The peer to peer networking site, which has than 47 million members, will bring in a fast-track process for dealing with complaints about nudity, pornography and unwelcome approaches. Prospective members will also be warned about the risks of social networks before they sign up.

The agreement came after an investigation by Andrew Cuomo, the New York attorney general, who had received complaints about inappropriate content on the website.

“Social networking sites, popular among young people, have quickly gained members and appeal, but also act as a magnet for those who would prey on the young,” Mr Cuomo said.

Websites such as Facebook and MySpace have been criticized by child safety campaigners, who say that they give pedophiles anonymous access to large numbers of children.

Peer to peer networking sites such as Facebook are continuing to develop a comprehensive age verification system that could be used by all social networking sites.

Yuwie is a relatively new social, and peer to peer networking site and has really taken off. The site doesn’t differentiate itself with the features it offers or the market that it trying to capture. On the contrary, Yuwie differentiates itself by paying its members for using the site for every action they take on the site, and even the actions resulting from them.

Once you sign up with the site, you have several different options accessible via icons displayed on the left-hand side. These options include messages, friends, pictures, blog, schools, clubs, and favorites. As you can see, nothing new there, in fact these same features and many more are already available on other sites, but that’s not the point. Yuwie has a detailed set of videos that explains how they are ‘changing the game’ by paying their users for ‘playing around on the internet’. So how exactly are they changing the game? Let’s see.  If you’re into the social, and peer to peer networking scene, might as well get paid for the time you spend online.

While you’re shopping, and compiling your wish list for the holiday season, you can count on a one startup company to make it a cinch this year.  A couple of  Silicon Valley entrepreneurs have created a new tool to help you find what you’re looking for on the Internet. It’s called recommendr.com, a website that combines online shopping and peer to peer networking.

If you have questions, recommendr.com has answers because it knows that shopping is social. We sometimes go out and buy things on our own, but many times the process before that is very social. You might ask your friends or even your co-workers about a product before buying it. No matter what you’re looking to buy, you can find it at recommendr.com. From hair products to digital cameras to your next washer and dryer, it’s all there. Recommendr’s founders, currently working out of the CEO’s condo, give you a chance to tell and be told, how to find the best deal, and avoid lemons. It’s not just about simply shopping, it’s about making the shopping process richer and decreasing buyers remorse and helping people to get a lot better products,” said Goh. Online or offline, the way you shop is about to get a little more selective and a little more social. It’s clear that peer to peer networking will soon be intertwined with every aspect of everyday life.

Qlique.com, which launched on Sept. 10, is the freshest 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.

If you’ve been the least bit involved in online marketing you’d undoubtedly heard about how Web 2.0, peer to peer networking, and social media, were going to change the way businesses work online. While Search Engine Optimization (also called Search Engine Marketing) is a definite precursor to peer to peer networking, almost any SEO guru will testify to the power of peer to peer networking via social media.  The Singaporean company Hitwise is already realizing this. 

Hitwise posted the following in October of this year:

“While search engines dominated referral traffic to ‘Appliance and Electronics’ shopping websites, representing over 25% of visits, traffic from ‘Net Communities and Chat’ websites accounted for 10.16% of traffic to the industry, nearly double the volume of traffic than ‘Email Services’ websites.”

This information presents an opportunity for marketers in this industry to both tap into the power of social networking. This information just substantiates that fact that those businesses who ignore peer to peer networking and social sites are missing out on a big slice of the referral pie.