Linking in to web 2.0

Web 2.0 can be exhausting, no? So many channels to maintain, and so many to follow. In the spare seconds between editing our print magazine, Catalogue e-business, and putting together our enewsletters, and updating our website (http://www.catalog-biz.com/), and of course writing for this blog, and posting to our Twitter feed (twitter.com/catalogbiz), I sometimes wonder if all the effort is worthwhile.

So what did I do last Friday afternoon? Implement another web 2.0 effort: the Catalogue e-business LinkedIn group. I emailed invitations to some of my LinkedIn contacts on this side of the Atlantic, my colleague Miri did the same, and we referred to it on our Twitter feed. I figured maybe half of those we’d invited would sign up, and that would be that.

So I was thrilled to see that before the weekend was out we already had more than 60 members. And a significant portion of them weren’t people we’d invited, but instead were LinkedIn contacts of our contacts, along with several who’d come via Twitter. A number of these people were new to both Miri and me, and so were perhaps new to Catalogue e-business as well.

My point? One, that social networking does indeed help you reach people you might not have been in touch with via your traditional channels as well as enable you to strengthen your relationship with your existing audience.

And two, that Catalogue e-business has a LinkedIn group, and I hope to see you on the membership list soon.--SC