This post is my second update of my 06/13/10 post captioned SOCIAL MEDIA: IGNORE AT YOUR OWN PERIL. Social media continue to be a hot topic among executives and professionals.   I have many conversations about online social networks with both master networkers and newbies.  Although social media comprise multiple sites like Facebook, MySpace, and LinkedIn, my personal experience has been limited to LinkedIn.  Drilling down further, here are seven more observations and useful things to know:

1. You should comment on the updates from the members of your network as it increases your interactivity and communication with your network, which is the whole point of establishing a network.
2. You shouldn’t forget to provide frequent updates on what you are doing as it will invite comments and messages from your network, and you and your contacts will discover an opportunity to chat about a mutual interest – again, this is the whole point.
3. On LinkedIn, your updates don’t have to be 100% business or professionally related.   LinkedIn is not Facebook or Twitter, so you don’t want to post a lot of trivial activities or very personal information, but you do want to paint a multidimensional picture of your life and personality other than strictly business.
4. You can integrate your LinkedIn to your smart phone so that you have 24-hour access.  My good friend Dan Cotter showed me this feature several weeks ago.
5. If you use Microsoft Outlook, you can integrate LinkedIn to your contacts and email, and there are many neat features that are too numerous to describe for this post.  You can do this via the Tools button at the bottom of your LinkedIn homepage.  I tip my hat to Larry Kaufman as I was educated on the Microsoft Outlook application by Larry’s 06-16-10 presentation titled “Unleash the Power of LinkedIn” (see my 06-16-10 post captioned SOCIAL MEDIA: SIX MORE THINGS TO KNOW.)
6. You can find LinkedIn affinity groups that you are truly interested in joining such as your college, industry, clubs, employer, etc. and this becomes an easy way to stay informed and to connect with people with whom you share something in common.    I limit the number as I feel I have only so much time to consume the information that they generate in terms of discussions, news, and so forth.  Other LinkedIn users have a different philosophy and believe that the more groups you join, then the broader and more useful your network becomes.  You have to decide what makes sense for you.
7. Although this is stating the obvious, it cannot be stressed enough – triple check your LinkedIn profile to make sure it is correct.  Think of all the politicians who had inaccurate, sloppy, exaggerated, wrong, or false information about themselves on their online profiles and bios and the resulting grief that they endured.

I would love to hear your LinkedIn stories, observations, or tips.