Get contacts!

Web 2.0 today

A wet suit, an ex-colleague, a business request and an invitation to demonstrate in downtown Athens. What’s the connection between them? No, they’re not part of some weird weekend party scene I’m into, they’re actually four really useful things I’ve found recently on the social networking sites I’ve joined – and that I wouldn’t have found so easily offline (partly because I wasn’t even actively looking for three of them. I’ll let you guess which three!)

As Michelle Carstens explains in our Careers feature “Weaving the web” (Business Spotlight 1/2008) social networking sites make the connections between people visible. And if you fill out the different sections on the sites in detail, people with similar interests to you might contact you and ask to be your “friend” or “contact” – much as they might in the real world (although admittedly people rarely ask to be “friends” once they’re past the teenager stage). Through my work details, an ex-colleague found me. Via my interests, a member invited me to the demonstration. After reading about my skills, someone contacted me about a new project. I posted an ad in a local marketplace and found the wetsuit. (So now you know!)

Of course, there are excellent social networking sites in German, but if you’re looking to improve your business English – or your chances at working in an English-speaking environment – we suggest you sign up for one of the accounts in English. It’ll be a chance for you to write in English in a fun setting. Just remember, however, that when you’re on a network, people can find you. Change the privacy settings of your profile so that information is visible only to trusted contacts.

Kathleen Erickson, whom we interviewed for Business Spotlight 1/2008, advises people to post a detailed profile and to get or write recommendations to get the most out of the social networking site LinkedIn. In our exercise, we look at the language used when you join a social networking site and when you write or receive work-related recommendations on such a site.

Deborah Capras