One of the things that happens once you start participating in a few social networks is that you start to form what I call Friendship Pockets. As you befriend people on each network, you see that you have lots of overlap. The same friends you have on one network may also show up as friends on another. The best way to illustrate this is with some sort of graphic, so I’ve quickly made one (below). I’ve only used 3 circles, but of course many more could be added.

A one-person icon represents people who are only friends with you in one network, two-person icons represent friends who exist in two networks, and three-person icons are in all three networks.

So who cares about these friendship pockets anyway? Well, I think they do matter, because the pockets represent your strongest networks. Those people who befriend you in several overlapping networks are generally the ones who you can depend upon the most. These are the ones you can rely on to help you share your sites with others, the ones who will come to your aid when needed, and the ones who will reciprocate when you help them out.

If you don’t already know these friends well, make an effort to get to know them better. You obviously all share some common traits, and together you can grow each others’ businesses faster than you can alone. The tighter your friendship pockets become, the more strength they collectively have. Take a little time to develop these pockets further and your site will only benefit.

(Note: This is no way means you should be spamming the friends in your networks. It’s all give and take. Don’t be just a taker.)

© Donna for DazzlinDonna, 2008. | Permalink | 24 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: few social networks, friendship pockets, pockets further and your site, social networks, strongest networks, Twitter
This feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this in your news aggregator/reader or on DazzlinDonna, then the site you are looking at is probably infringing upon my copyright.