Newbies Avoid Social Networks like Ryze and Xing
Newbies Avoid Social Networks like Ryze and Xing, they even avoid places like MySpace. They say that you can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink. Likewise you can give people good advice but you can't make them understand it. Below I try to give you some excellent advice. You choose what to do.
There is so much that is new on the internet, much of it confusing to newbies. The news media is often seeking to promote fear of the internet, creating a negative attitude in the community and making many people reluctant to explore what the internet can really do. If you are connected socially with people who are not really internet literate, you will learn from them how to be like them, internet illiterate. All learning is social. Find the most skilled user group you can. Mix with them. They will teach you what you need to know.
To learn about life on the internet you You will probably need to change these settings, but the idea is to understand the need to mix with people who are strong internet users. You can find people like that on Ryze.
You'll only become a full citizen on the internet when you are a member of a group which contains people who have good skills. Social networks like Ryze and Xing offer that opportunity. Even so, most of the people who join such networks never learn to reap the benefits of their membership. If you just sign up, nothing will happen except that your space will be reserved. You need to participate to get any benefit, you need to become socially involved.
I'll talk about Ryze, because that's the network I know best. Xing has some nice features too, but it's even more complex and more difficult for newbies to cope with. Free membership of Xing is a bit restrictive. Free membership on Ryze lets you do a great deal more.
This rather long piece is more than busy people need. For a quicker way to get to the key things see "First Steps on Ryze" before you read this one.
Getting Started on Ryze
Your Basic Page Header: On Ryze when you join you get an opportunity to establish a home page, with some details about yourself. What your name is, your present occupation, the firm you work for, the university you attended, the city you live in, your goals and objectives. Without these basic details your page can't begin to function. Then you can add a photograph, the web address of your company, and if you have them, your personal web page and your personal blog address. These latter enhancements are useful but not essential parts of a Ryze page.
Privacy: Your first Ryze page is private and your guestbook is set "on" for public access. (You can change it to "Friends Only" but since you probably don't have any "friends" yet that means there is really no guestbook.) This permits a few foolish newbies on Ryze to spam your page. That might last about as week until your listing as a new member ends. You can delete those messages if you choose. Don't be put off, it won't last. Yes the big frightening world of public internet use does exist, but it's very safe on Ryze, trust me. More on this later.
Show that you are a real person: Within a few weeks of joining Ryze you should put some personal text into your Ryze page, perhaps adding some small photographs. Most people do this by choosing some quotes they like and they include a photo or two. An image of the city you live in, perhaps a family photograph and a pet photograph. Simple stuff. Sadly hundreds of people who join never have the confidence to do that. Their pages never become interesting to read. The message is clear, "I'm not an interesting person, please ignore me." They will get their wish.
Join some Networks: On Ryze there are hundreds of networks that you may join, most of which have a very low message load, but some of which get hundreds of messages a day. People can't know that when they join. Far too many people never join any networks. Some people join a large number, and turn off the email notices about postings. In both cases you are essentially not connected.
I suggest you join several networks. Make a list of your interests. In the Search Function on the Networks Page try each of your interests in turn. Join some of the networks that you find. Leave the mail option functioning. One or two of those groups are bound to have massive mail traffic. When you see that go back to the network page and turn mail from that network off. Make it part of your schedule to visit that network, once every day.
Don't let yourself be overwhelmed with 100 or more new letters suddenly arriving in your inbox. Use your mail filter to put all Ryze Network Mail into a Ryze Folder on your hard-drive. ( All mail from "Ryze Networks-Admin".)
If you've done that much you have set the foundation to be a successful member on Ryze. If you need help with any part of that, ask someone.
Try these networks where beginners questions are welcome
http://htmlhelper-network.ryze.com/ HTML Helper
http://thevirtualhandshake-network.ryze.com/ The Virtual Handshake
http://nfst-network.ryze.com/ Networkers First Stop
John S Veitch
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