I’ve tried out and am a member of so many social networking sites it has become preposterous. I really don’t like any of them that much, but Twitter, Facebook and Stumbleupon seem to be the only ones having any relevance. I’ve always thought that blogging and commenting are the best way to social network, and the others are simply supplements.

Twitter

It’s basically a waste of time, but can bring you some extra readers and is fun sometimes. One thing that helped me use it more and made it convienient is the Firefox extension Twitterfox. It places a little icon in your address bar and gives you instant updates allowing you to respond quickly. I’ve tried a few desktop apps but they weren’t in my browser, so I never used them. See below that Speedy sent me a message and I instantly replied, making Twitter work more like a public instant messenger which is really what it is:

Twitterfox Extension

Twitterfox Extension

Note the tabs on twitterfox for Recent, Replies and Messages. To the left of the “Recent” tab is a convenient link button to post your blog articles instantly (or whatever page you’re currently browsing).

I also use Qwitter, which sends you an e-mail when someone un-follows you. I’ve already had one person un-follow me and I’ve un-followed several people. One political twit kept saying idiotic racial things like, “Kill Obama, he’s a terrorist” and other sick things too disgusting to mention. I actually reported him to Twitter management and hope his account is deleted.

I spend more time actually blogging and commenting than I do with any of these extras.

Follow me on Twitter: Twitter – Revellian I’ll return the favor!

Facebook

I use the Twitter and Stumbleupon applications on Facebook which tie them all together. I tweet with Twitterfox through my browser and it appears on my Facebook profile. I’m pretty lazy with social networking so I don’t spend much time messing with any of it.

Stumbleupon

Stumbleupon is my favorite bookmarker and is great for traffic. I think the rest are a waste of time. I never use Digg because it’s so over-gamed (or I just don’t know how to use it effectively). Just as a redundant refresher for those who don’t use Stumbleupon correctly:

When you are the first person to stumble an article (the one who discovers it) you should give it a thumbs up and a review. If you don’t write a review, the algorithm gets no traction and virtually kills most of the traffic. I write a review and tag every stumble I do – it’s the best policy.  Also, make sure you install the Stumbleupon tool bar. Here’s my Stumbleupon profile.

Technorati

Just a quick note: Technorati is completely irrelevant. If you’re not using Technorati as a blog search engine, it’s a waste of time to even worry about it. I once got caught up in all that viral link building crap, but it has actually hurt my page rank. I recommend against link trains as they will hurt, not help you. Of course, toolbar pagerank is also irrelevant. I still have over 40 pages on page one search engine results with a PR2. Basically, all statistics are impertinent. Writing something worth reading will always be the best plan of action!