Social Networks from Traditional Media Titans and Your Personal Brand

  • 2 min read

I’ve wanted to do this post for a while and luckily I waited for the perfect time, when 4 of the biggest media players (traditional media) have embraced social networking. From a personal branding perspective, I recommend getting a profile on at least one of these if you have very little presence or are a “beginner.” I say this because these profiles will rank high and can protect you against any bad press in the future (when it comes to Google). Also, if you are looking to expand your professional network, then these networks will help you find the right people.

BusinessWeek

Business Exchange is BusinessWeek‘s social network. There are over 3,000 news and blog items so far in this social network. You can read updated news, blogs, and resources about social networking all across this community. There are many familiar faces in this network, such as Anita Campbell, John Jantsch, Bryan Eisenberg and John Battelle.

Personal branding: The main benefit of using this social network is that, like the rest, it ranks high in Google because it’s supported by BusinessWeek.com’s PageRank of 8. Also, after you setup a profile, all of your actions (alongside your peers) will be syndicated on the main page, such as a blog post or an article you find. Very influential people are on-board already, such as the one’s listed above.

Fast Company

FastCompany.com is a free Website that features editorial content with a focus on business ideas and innovation. With more than 95,000 active members, the site is also a meeting place for a global community of forward-thinking business leaders.

Personal branding: The main benefit to your brand is visibility. Since this social network was the first of it’s kind for a traditional media source, there are thousands more users than the competition. The bad part about this is that it’s more competitive to get your blog postings listed on the homepage, but it’s possible! By blogging, answering daily questions and commenting on articles, you can be on the front page of one of the most trafficked media sites. Fast Company has a PageRank of 7 as well. You can connect with like-minded people by joining special interest groups and adding friends.

New York Times

TimesPeople is a new way to discover what other readers find interesting on NYTimes.com — and to make recommendations of your own. With TimesPeople, you can share articles, videos, slideshows, blog posts, reader comments, and ratings and reviews of movies, restaurants and hotels. Once you have signed up, TimesPeople begins to collect the public actions you take on NYTimes.com.

Other readers can choose to see your activity, and you can choose to see theirs. You’ll have several ways to begin building your network: use the built-in search box, select from a list of suggested users you might know, or import your e-mail contacts. And you’ll continue to expand your network simply by using TimesPeople and encountering other readers.

Personal branding: The main benefit from using this social network is that you can track down people who are interested in the same exact topics you are in an instant. You can learn more about other people and likewise, have something to talk to them about and give value. NYTimes.com has a PageRank of 9 and is probably the most respected source on the internet.

Wall Street Journal

Journal Community allows WSJ.com’s million or so paid online subscribers to comment on every story, pose their own discussion questions, e-mail one another and set up profiles that will allow others to see what they’re doing on the site. This social network is for business professionals, built around the content of the newspaper and web site but not limited to it.

Personal branding: The WSJ is restricting social network users to the one’s who are paying money, which is dumb. Other than that, if you are willing to fork over the money, this network is incredible for your brand. By commenting on posts and being active on this site, you are now connected with people from around the world. Profiles on this site will share a PageRank of 8.

Picture of Dan Schawbel

Dan Schawbel

Dan Schawbel is the Managing Partner of Millennial Branding, a Gen Y research and consulting firm. He is the New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of Promote Yourself: The New Rules For Career Success (St. Martin’s Press) and the #1 international bestselling book, Me 2.0: 4 Steps to Building Your Future (Kaplan Publishing), which combined have been translated into 15 languages.

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