It’s no surprise that social media websites are some of the most frequented sites on the web.  However, with so many sites out there it is important to know the different features, purposes, and basic differences between them.

Digg

As one of the newest editions to the top 100 sites (as ranked by Alexa.com in April of 2010), Digg has grown over the past 5 years into one of the most respected social networking/bookmarking websites.  The site revolves around the members’ abilities to vote blog posts and stories up or down, and the most prominently Dugg posts are displayed on the front page of the site, but that’s not all.  Check out these top features:

1. Digg Recommendations — Using a specified algorithm, you are able to search for other Digg members who have Dugg the same stories as you.  This allows you to utilize a huge networking function and add people to your friend list with common interests.
2. Digg Spy — Providing a real-time view of what is going on throughout the Digg site.  You can monitor and watch stories as they are submitted, voted, and move up in the rankings.  This is a great way for you to stay abreast with the current topics of all users as you can keep track of the current daily trends and adjust your stories to those topics.
3. Blog Connections — With one simple click you can submit a story to the Digg community (as long as your blog is hosted by WordPress, Blogger, Moveable Type, TypePad, or Live Journal).  For everyone out there who is busy (almost all of you), this saves a significant amount of time and effort as you attempt to spread the word of your posts.

Delicious

Delicious is one of those sites that it pays to be a part of; it has been around since 2003, has a ton of users, and is a great way for your to utilize the social bookmarking community.  Users have the ability to tag each of their bookmarks with freely chosen indexing terms which help populate a “Hostlist” on the front page, and allow users to view the current trends of blog topics.

The top 3 features of Delicious include:

1. Fresh Bookmarks and Hotlist — This, for me, is the be-all-end-all with Delicious.  These two tabs allow users to see what the current trends are throughout the blogosphere which is Delicious.  This means that business owners and management can monitor trends and if their field or topics relevant to any information pop up they can jump right on the band wagon and get involved.
2. Share — When you share something you want it to get out there as easily as possible as fast as possible, and Delicious allows that with integration with the Twitter community.  This share feature also allows you to send your bookmarks to e-mail addresses if they are not affiliated with Delicious yet, and is an outstanding way for you to think outside the box when delivering information to potential clientele in relation to your services/product.
3. Search — With the entire Delicious.com community freely tagging articles, you will most likely get the most accurate search results with long-tail keyword searches.  This allows you to narrow down all of your searches and find exactly what you are looking for within the entire community.

StumbleUpon

StumbleUpon has one of the unique products out there on the web where you can input topics that interest you and web-surf.  In all honesty, you have to know that I spend almost all of my “free web time” stumbling through websites because I like to see how they are designed.  Stumble has several great features that truly make it worthwhile:

1. Friends — You have the ability with StumbleUpon to invite and have friends within your social network.  This is a great opportunity for you to venture outside of the box with networking opportunities and truly get a sense as to what your sphere of influence has to say about their interests.
2. Easy — I cannot express to you how easy this website is to use and enjoy.  When you decide to channel view, you are brought to an easy to use screen that is extremely easy to use and very very fun.  The toolbar at the top of the screen is great as it has key features for sharing the sites that you like as well as voting for the individual sites.
3. Traffic — This is truly the bottom line for me as there is a definitive advantage to being a part of the Stumble community…driving traffic to your site.  The honest truth is that you can take advantage of a great resource, network, and share all of your content through a single site which, in turn, drives unique traffic to your website.

Mixx

Mixx is the new kid on the block in terms of social networking/bookmarking sites go, but is a very useful platform nonetheless.  Being user-driven allows people to find content from their peers primarily based on interest and/or location.  Take a look at some of their features:

1. Personalization — The start page is customized to categories and topics that interest you, and are displayed on your very own “Mixx page”.  They also allow for a personalized profile page to help in your networking ventures.
2. Search and Discover — Mixx has great search capability in that you can utilize keyword searches for images, all content, articles, etc.  Basically, it is a phenomenal way to narrow down search results without too much work.  The site also has a popular content section and a local section (which allows you to view content within a certain zip code).  This is a great feature for business owners targeting local audiences as they can see different trends in the local area.
3. Overall Networking Experience — Since this is a user-driven platform, the users have full capability as to comments, groups, friends, etc.  You are able to award people “kudos” for their comments or label comments as “fighting words” to not have them displayed.

As always, it’s important for you (as business owners and business people) to get out there and hit the social networking websites.  With all of these features out there between all of the social bookmarking sites you are truly missing the boat if you are not involved, and make sure that you contact Impact if you need any help establishing your online presence through these networking sites.

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