Social network usage is ever-expanding due to more and more awareness of its benefits. There are even gains for the common user who has no business interests or inclination towards things like statistical usage. These individuals take pleasure in using these websites just for the purpose of remaining in touch with friends and family members. At first, as a user, you may simply sign up for an account of your own. The next step involves searching for friends and relatives who might have profiles on the same network. From here onwards, you can add contacts known to you as well as those whom you wish to befriend. In other words, a social network allows you to make friends, and this is how you can expand your ‘social circle.’ It is this very term that has now been incorporated in Google’s ‘Google Plus’ because of its significance.

With some social networking sites having reached the top of the competition, there is still immense room for competitors to make their way in, and the latest of these has been Google’s networking effort (Google Plus). After the overwhelming success that Facebook has had, Google perhaps sees itself as a potential success too. It has also had humble beginnings like facebook, and has also experienced a similar pattern of massive expansion. The major difference is that Google went down other avenues in contrast to Facebook, and explored the concept of online libraries and archives as well as other utilities such as online processing documents. Like other video sites, Google has also purchased companies like YouTube.

At this point in time, Google seems to be as serious as any other business is about its potential. It also has experience in owning a social network, Orkut, and it can certainly use this knowledge to its advantage. In time to come, it can be expected that Google Plus will draw many users its way. Already it has grown quite popular, with people who are already using Gmail receiving their invitations to sign up. It can also be said that Google Plus is in its testing phase, and it is believed to be doing pretty well. With a number of Gmail users out there, there is no doubt that they will at least be curious to see what’s being offered, and they will explore this newly introduced network.

With Google Plus possessing all the potential to capture the hearts and minds of many users online, facebook has to be on its guard. It’s not as though facebook is at risk, however, it will have consierable competition to deal with.

While facebook has shown its mettle in the past, Google + has also demonstrated that it is not far behind, especially when it comes to its Google + Games. However, Facebook has released an array of new features for Facebook games in response to Google launching its gaming platform. Google + offers games such as Zynga, Rovio and Wooga that clearly spell serious competition for facebook. However, facebook seems to be a step ahead with what it has in its armory; while the games offered tend to be the same, Facebook has already come up with its new alluring features for its games.

Facebook’s newly introduced features clearly seem to be countermeasures to Google + Games; they have appeared within just a few hours of Google+ launching its games. It was apparent that Google + took hinted broadly at Facebook when it mentioned that when their games go live, alerts will not appear in everyone’s stream. Facebook has been known for making sure users see their games, but Google + is trying to take moral ground by giving users a choice when it comes to being able to see these games in their streams.

Out of its 16 games listed in its announcement, Google + offers Zynga Poker, Angry Birds and Sudoko. However, this robust introduction has been countered with the Game Ticker from Facebook. The right-hand Facebook Chat column is transformed into a newsfeed of friends’ game activity. This area shows the games your friends are playing along with their successes as well as their high scores. This has been designed in order to fit the purpose of social networking; anyone who clicks on it will be taken to that game so that the user will be able to play it with friends. Also, similar to Facebook News Feed, a user can allow or prevent stories appearing in the stream, and obvious aim at sharing moral ground with Google + that offers users a choice between displaying their games in their streams.

Apart from the above features introduced, facebook has introduced some others. It appears that they have a string of counter measures to employ as they anticipate future moves from Google +.

Dan Schawbel, recognized as “Personal Branding Guru” by The New York Times, is the Managing Partner of Millennial Branding, LLC, the #1 international bestselling author of Me 2.0, and owner of the Personal Branding Blog.

Managing your online network is critical, whether you’re looking for a job, trying to advance in your career, or you’re starting a business. Think of the Internet as a global talent pool that has more contact information than the White Pages. In fact, 80 percent of available jobs are never even advertised, with more than half of all employees finding their jobs through networking, according to BH Careers International.

Social networks have connected and exposed us to more people than ever before. With all the online friends and followers you’ve accumulated, it’s become increasingly complicated to make sense of your social graph and use it to your advantage. It’s also never been more important to build your contact database, organize it, and then put it to work for you. The old adage “it’s not what you know, it’s who you know,” is true, so consider your rolodex more valuable than your wallet when it comes to achieving success in business.

Here is how to create a basic contact management strategy, stay connected and organized from your desktop to your phone, and give you some insight onto how to expand your network.

Your Contact Management Strategy

You will always have different tiers of relationships, from family, to friends, to associates, to acquaintances and everyone in between. In order to organize your database, you need to have specific categories in mind. Consider things like the strength of your relationship, how important the relationship is to you, the last time you connected with them, three things about them, what company they work for, their location, and their contact information (e-mail, phone, address, LinkedIn). You can use a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, an Access Database, Act!, or another similar software package to help manage your contacts, using these columns. Aside from these software packages, there are other applications listed below that can help you. By organizing your contacts under these main categories, it will allow you to reconnect with the right people, and expand your relationships.

1. From Your Social Graph to Your Desktop

It’s very important that you have physical copies of your contact database as a backup. Although, you may participate in a handful of social networks, that data resides in the cloud, and not on your desktop. Backing up your social graph means that if, for some reason, your social media profile disappears, is removed entirely, or the social network collapses and you lose everything, you’ll be protected regardless. Try to get in the habit of exporting your contacts so that you have a copy on your desktop in an Excel file.

Here is how to save your social friends, contacts, and followers on your desktop:

Facebook: Although Facebook might appear as a wall garden, there’s actually a trick to capturing your friends’ phone numbers and e-mail addresses. Create or use your existing Yahoo! e-mail account and import your Facebook friends right into your address book. Then download the .CSV file to your desktop.

LinkedIn: After logging into LinkedIn, go straight to the “connections” link in the global navigation area. At the bottom of the page, you’ll see “export connections.” From the next screen, you can download the .CSV file to your desktop.

Twitter: You don’t have the ability to view email addresses or phone numbers of your Twitter followers. You can, however, download a .CSV file of 100 of your followers to your desktop by using Twitter Export. The information in the spreadsheet will be the name, user name, follower and following count, and their bios.

2. From the Cloud

Gist (Free): Use this tool to make sense of your social connections. After creating an account, you can immediately import your contacts from Outlook, Facebook, LinkedIn, Gmail, Lotus Notes, as well as .CSV files and vCards. After you have established your network, you can view the last time you’ve reached out to each of your contacts, how many emails you’ve sent and received from them, and what companies they work for.

JibberJobber (Free to $9.95/month): This tool allows you to organize and manage your job search, track relationships, target companies, and track the jobs you apply to. With a free basic account, you can manage up to 75 contacts. There is no limit to the amount of contacts you can store with a premium account.

Xobni for Microsoft Outlook (Free): Microsoft Outlook can help you manage your address book, but with the Xobni add-on, you can integrate the social media profiles of your contacts. This means you’ll receive additional contact information that wouldn’t normally be included in your address book.

Disclosure: Gist is a sponsor of Mashable.

3. From Your Phone

The strongest relationships are created in the real world, not the virtual world. If you’re on a plane, train, car, or just at a networking event, you’ll want to capture contact information from the people you meet. A paper business card is still extremely important for exchanging information with people, but the following tools will help store information virtually on the go.

Groups 2 ($5.99): The fastest way to manage your contacts on your iPhone with a drag and drop interface. You can create your own groups, send a mass e-mail to members of each group, and attach vCards to share information with others. Aside from sending e-mails, you can make quick calls, and send text messages. An additional benefit with this application is that is syncs with your Windows address book.

WorldCard Mobile ($5.99): You can scan business cards onto your iPhone by taking a photo, and it instantly recognizes data from business cards and sorts the fields into a contact list. You can save a lot of information into each contact profile, including an image, e-mail, website address, phone number, SMS, and maps.

Bump (Free): If you want to save precious time, and want to have a little fun with your in-person networking, then this application is for you. With Bump, all you have to do is hold your iPhone next to a fellow iPhone user and “bump” them together. You can share photos and contacts with other people who have iPhones and the Bump application.

Growing Your Network

There is a lot of value in a contact management system. It saves you time from researching information about people you’ve already met, and can act as a reference sheet. It also allows you to keep organized and aware of which contacts you haven’t spoken to in a while, and who works at companies that you either want to collaborate with, or work for. The payoff of investing time in a contact management system is that you will be able to keep track of the people you meet, refer back to it, and grow it throughout the course of your life.

In order to expand your network, you need to target people who are in your industry, and those who share the same interests and passions that you have. Once you connect with them in-person, through e-mail or phone, put them into your contact management system.

More business resources from Mashable:

---

- 5 Ways For Small Companies To Better Engage Reporters
- How One Small Biz Turned Their Company Retreat Into Social Media Success
- Growing Your Business: 5 Tips From the Founder of Foursquare
- 5 Essential Apps for Your Business’s Facebook Fan Page
- HOW TO: Implement a Social Media Business Strategy

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, tiridifilm

Tags: business, contact management, contacts, facebook, how to, linkedin, networking, organize, twitter

Facebook has launched a page devoted to U.S. politics, located at Facebook.com/USpolitics.

Rolled out at the Personal Democracy Forum in New York City, the page monitors how U.S. politicians, elected officials and political campaigns use Facebook to connect with citizens.

Facebook is an important part of U.S. politics today. Barack Obama has an incredibly popular page, with more than 8.6 million fans; recently, U.S. President George W. Bush started his own Facebook page, amassing over 70,000 fans in a very short timespan.

Facebook also has a similar page devoted to sports, as well as all of the celebrities who use Facebook.

Tags: facebook, social media, social networking, US politics

Pakistan lifted the Facebook ban on Monday after Facebook officials apologized for offensive content and blocked access to it — at least for those who try to access the offending content from Pakistan.

Two weeks ago, a Pakistani court had ordered the authorities to block Facebook because of a contest that called for caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad.

“The government has assured the court on behalf of the website that the blasphemous material would not be seen in Pakistan,” lawyer Azhar Siddique told Reuters. Siddique is a representative of the Islamic Lawyers Forum, a group whose petition called for the Facebook ban.

It seems that Facebook didn’t completely remove the groups deemed offensive to Muslims, instead blocking access to them from Pakistan and, possibly, other Islamic countries. The same Facebook search we conducted when the ban was first imposed still yields two groups which feature several caricatures of the Islamic Prophet.

Recently, Bangladesh also blocked Facebook over satirical images deemed offensive to Muslims.

Tags: ban, facebook, Pakistan, social media, social networking

Facebook, MySpace and other social networks have apparently been sending personal and identifiable information about users to advertisers without consent, despite assurances to the contrary.

Large advertising companies including Google’s DoubleClick and Yahoo’s Right Media have received information including usernames and ID numbers that could be traced back to individual profiles as users clicked on ads. The data could potentially be used to look up personal information about the user, including real name, age, occupation, location and anything else made public on the profile. Both of the aforementioned companies denied being aware of the “extra” data they were receiving and claim they have not made use of it.

The Wall Street Journal reports that since questions were raised about the practice with Facebook and MySpace, both companies have since rewritten at least some of the code that allowed transmission of identifiable data. Beyond those two companies, LiveJournal, Hi5, Xanga and Digg made the list of sites who have sent identifiable information back to advertisers when a user clicked on individual ads.

The WSJ found that Facebook went farther than most in sharing identifiable data by sending the username of the person clicking the ad as well as the username of the profile he or she was viewing at the time. This news could hardly come at a worse time for Facebook, a company that currently faces a privacy backlash potent enough to make the cover of Time Magazine this month.

Outside of Facebook, the other companies named in the article maintain the data they send to advertisers contains the user ID of the profile a user is visiting when he or she clicks on an ad, and not the user ID of the individual visitor. Both Google and Yahoo strongly refuted the idea that they would ever make use of any such personally identifiable data. Yahoo VP of Global Policy Anne Toth said of the allegations, “We prohibit clients from sending personally identifiable information to us. We have told them. ‘We don’t want it. You shouldn’t be sending it to us. If it happens to be there, we are not looking for it.’”

What do you think: Is this another privacy-related stain on Facebook as well as other social networks, or much ado about nothing?

UPDATE: Digg contacted us to clarify what they do and do not do with respect to personally identifiable information sent to advertisers. Chas Edwards, Publisher & Chief Revenue Officer at Digg, indicated that although the URL of the page the user is currently visiting is passed through (note that this is normal behavior — essentially how URLs function on the web), no personally identifiable information about the user themselves is passed through: “We don’t share user data or any other personally identifiable information with any advertisers or ad networks, even if a user clicks on an ad; we only provide URLs of pages being visited. For site analytics purposes, we do share user data — that is *encrypted* so that it can’t be tracked to PII on an individual user — with 3rd party research suppliers such as Omniture.”

Tags: advertising, digg, facebook, facebook privacy, Google, hi5, LiveJournal, MARKETING, myspace, privacy, trending, xanga, Yahoo

A Pakistani court has ordered the authorities to temporarily block Facebook due to a contest that calls for caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad.

The court order follows a petition by a group called the Islamic Lawyers’ Movement, which complained that the contest was “blasphemous.” A search on Facebook reveals two sites featuring such caricatures: one supporting Kurt Westergaard, the Danish cartoonist who created the caricature of the Prophet, published in Danish newspapers in 2005.

The other group is openly calling for caricatures of Prophet Muhammad, claiming in the group descriptions that it has noble intent. From the description: “This group is for everyone, regardless of nationality, political or religious believes, who believe in and want to defend freedom of speech and the foundation of democracy wherever it is being threatened in the world!” In the photo section of the group, one can indeed find several caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad.

Facebook is to remained blocked in Pakistan until May 31. Justice Ejaz Ahmed Chaudhry of the Lahore High Court ordered the department of communications to submit a written reply to the Islamic Lawyers’ Movement petition by that date. In 2008, Pakistan blocked YouTube, also because of caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad that found their way onto the video-sharing site.

Tags: ban, facebook, Pakistan, social networking

Facebook and game creator Zynga, recently valued at $4 billion, have signed a five-year “strategic partnership” to maintain the symbiotic relationship between the social network and games like FarmVille, Mafia Wars and Treasure Island.

Facebook Credits, Facebook’s virtual currency system, will be an important part of the partnership between the two companies and its use will be expanded within Zynga games in the future. The announcement issued by the two companies doesn’t say exactly how, though.

Further incorporation of Facebook Credits solidifies Zynga’s commitment to the Facebook Platform because players wouldn’t likely be able to transfer those credits should Zynga go off on its own.

In the days preceding this announcement, some bloggers speculated that Zynga’s departure from Facebook was a sincere possibility. The concern was that Facebook’s decision to deploy Facebook Credits (from which it takes a 30% cut of all revenues) and remove or lessen the number of notifications in users’ newsfeeds from games could inspire Zynga to seek an alternative platform.

GamesBeat noted that Zynga started using in-game features to fetch players’ e-mail addresses — a potential sign that the company was making sure it would be able to stay in touch with its customers outside of Facebook should the relationship go south. And let’s not forget that Zynga revealed plans to launch FarmVille for iPhone and other mobile devices.

Maybe bloggers were reading too much into the situation, or maybe Zynga was doing all of that to secure a better bargaining position with Facebook. Either way, everything seems fine and dandy for the virtual farming and mafia warring communities on Facebook for now.

Tags: café world, facebook, facebook credits, facebook platform, farmville, games, Mafia Wars, microtransactions, online games, social gaming, social networking, treasure island, Zynga

Spare a moment from your fly fishing, or cricket playing, or whatever it is you actually do on the weekends and reflect back on all of the great content you missed out on because you were “too busy doing your job.” Whatever.

Fortunately for you, we’ve gathered up another boatload of great resources into one handy post, perfect for your weekend perusal. Scroll on down and pick out whatever catches your eye. This week you’ll find some important Facebook tips, a breakdown of the upcoming WordPress release, and some sweet BlackBerry apps for business.

Not enough? We’ve got wacky wedding dance videos too. You’re welcome.

Social Media

---

• Top 10 Wedding Dance Videos on YouTube
  If you think you’ve seen some crazy nuptials, check out some of these dance moves, immortalized forever in the hallowed halls of YouTube.
• HOW TO: Find Long Lost Friends on Facebook
  400 million people are using Facebook. If you’re looking for someone, chances are you can find them there. Here’s how to do it.
• HOW TO: Make the Most of Your Twitter Profile Page
  There’s a lot more to Twitter than just sharing your favorite foods in 140 characters. If you’re looking to make an impression with your profile page, check out these tips.
• 5 Ways Government Works Better With Social Media
  Social media has the potential to make government more transparent and accessible. Here are five examples of how the social web can improve public services.
• 8 Tips for a Successful Social Media Cause Campaign
  Social networks can provide unprecedented reach to non-profits and their partner companies, but there are some strategies to note before diving into the next campaign. Check out these eight tips.
• 4 Tips for Integrating Social Media Into the Classroom
  Education has long faced resistance to new technologies, but social media can be a great resource in the classroom. Here are some tips on bringing it to the fore.
• Top 5 Social Media Tips for C-Suite Execs
  While your web-savvy employees may be hip to social media, getting upper management on board can be challenging. We gathered some expert advice, and lay out the value proposition in this post.
• Why the Fashion Industry Loves Foursquare
  Lifestyle brand Diesel recently launched a fairly tacit Foursquare campaign that demonstrates the great marketing potential for location-based services. This post details where they succeeded, and where they fell short.
• Why Hasn’t Location Reached the Mainstream Yet?
  Despite all the buzz about location-based services, most people don’t use them. Here are some of the reasons why, and a few predictions about the future of the trend.
• HOW TO: Turn Slacktivists into Activists with Social Media
  Non-profit Twitter and texting campaigns may be tapping thousands of new cause contributors, but is a $10 SMS really where their engagement ends? This post speaks to how non-profits can deepen that connection through social media.
• Social Media Parenting: Raising the Digital Generation
  Who are your kids friending on Facebook, and how much online time is too much? We asked the experts to weigh in on some concrete strategies for raising the first fully digital generation.
• HOW TO: Get Notified When Someone Hacks Your Facebook
  Did you know that Facebook can alert you when someone logs into your account from an unknown computer? Follow these simple profile steps to set up this important security feature.

For more social media news and resources, you can follow Mashable’s social media channel on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook.

Tech & Mobile

---

• 10 Free iPhone Apps To Learn A New Skill In 10 Minutes
  Have you ever wanted to learn origami, CPR, or Morse Code? There are apps for those, and many more skills, so fire up your iPhone and check out this list of freebies.
• WordPress 3.0: The 5 Most Important New Features
  The official launch of WordPress 3.0 is almost here, and it packs a host of excellent new features. Peruse this list to find out what all the hubbub is about.
• 6 Free Websites for Learning and Teaching Science
  Release your inner science nerd and check out some of the web’s wonderful free resources for the pursuit of knowledge about our world. From genetics, to robots, to the infinite cosmos, these sites abound with information for students, teachers, and the just plain curious.
• How Mobile Technology is Affecting Local News Coverage
  The news-gathering game has changed, thanks to the ubiquity of smart, multipurpose handhelds. Whether you’re using your own device to report and disseminate the news, or you’re tapping a social web of mobile updates and Twitpics for sources, the mobile-savvy journalist is out at the front of the industry.
• 7 Ways Journalists Can Use Foursquare
  While Twitter and Facebook have been established as great places to make and break news, Foursquare’s growing popularity offers some interesting location-based opportunities for journalists.

For more tech news and resources, you can follow Mashable’s tech channel on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook.

Business

---

• HOW TO: Get the Most Out of Offline Networking Events
  While online social networking is all well and good, don’t forgo an opportunity to translate your online reach into a meaningful offline connection. This post has some great pointers.
• Why Co-Working Makes Sense for Small Businesses
  Co-working is a great way for your small business to save on overhead costs while leveraging the natural synergies between your team and other professionals working out of the same space.
• 10 Must-Have BlackBerry Apps for Small Business
  The king of business mobile devices can do a lot more than just send e-mail and make calls. These 10 apps can boost your productivity, and keep you connected on the go.
• The Local Advertising War Will Be a Clash of the Internet Titans
  Google, Facebook, Twitter, Apple, and even Foursquare are on track for a cataclysmic battle for location-based advertising dollars. Here’s a look at where we stand, and what to expect.

For more business news and resources, you can follow Mashable’s business channel on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook.

Tags: business, facebook, Features Week In Review, List, Lists, Mobile 2.0, small business, social media, tech, trending, twitter, youtube

Sketch troupe Derrick Comedy has tackled social networking as the topic of their latest video by creating the next next-generation social network: Gink. What is Gink? Well, it’s simple, really: “Gink is a fun made-up word, combining the words gibble and spink, both of which are also made up.”

Simultaneously parodying the proliferation of social networks and the dizzying array of specialized terminology that often comes with them, Gink goes off the deep end with an assortment of seriously delivered gibberish that would make Dr. Seuss proud.

Check out the video below — warning: some NSFW language included — and let us know what you think. Is Gink the next big thing?

[via Maximum Fun]

Tags: collegehumor, comedy, facebook, gink. Derrick Comedy, parody, social networks, twitter, video, viral video, youtube