online networking and the professions that use it

online networking is moving beyond just socializing and into the professional arena. from doctors to educators, here’s a look at some of the best professional networking sites and the professions that are utilizing them.

networks for the medical profession

though there are countless networking sites for physicians, doctors, and medical students, sermo is by far the most popular. sermo let’s physicians connect and share observations from their daily practices and ‘challenge or corroborate each others opinions’. this helps people in the medical profession apply the idea of collective intelligence towards better patient care.

related networks: doctors’ hangout, student doctor, doctor networking, social md, clinical village

music-based networks

of all the music-based social networking sites i’ve used, last.fm provides the cleanest, least intrusive and easy-to-use experience. the site tracks your music and based on what you listen to most – locates other artists, albums, and songs according to your preferences. The service let’s you connect with people who share your musical tastes and allows artists and lables to upload their own music to the site and share it with other users.

related networks: ilike, jam now, sell a band, buzz net, sound pedia

networks for educators

there are some older and more established networks for teachers, but yahoo is about to take teacher-focused social networks by storm. yahoo! teachers is ‘designed by teachers for teachers’ to help them connect, create, share, and modify lesson plans for their students. the site is currently not open to public but the private beta preview looks very promising.

related networks: yacapaca, nextgen teachers

photography-based networks

with photobucket, smugmug, zooomr, and many more, the photography-hosting/sharing/networking space is far from under-served. that said, flickr stands out from the crowd and continues to grow faster than the other top 4 combined.

related networks: fotki, fotolog, photobucket, smugmug, zooomr

networks for business verticals

linkedin is the most popular professional networking site and it is also the number one business networking site ( excluding employment search sites like monster, careerbuilder, etc.). the site is maintained in a minimalist yet comprehensive - functional fashion and offers countless opportunities for networking with contemporaries or working in ancillary fields, without compromising your privacy.

related networks: ryze, doostang

this is by no means a comprehensive list of professional networking sites or the professions that have made the leap to online networking. in fact, many professionals continue to use all-purpose networks such as facebook, myspace, and linkedin, rather than focusing on their niche.

Technorati Tags: social networking, professional networking, business networking, social media, facebook, myspace, linkedin, flickr, last.fm, sermo

14 thoughts on “online networking and the professions that use it

  1. Phil Butler

    This is a great, concise and informative article Muhammad. I agree and am interested particularly in the Yahoo teacher thingy. 🙂 Great job.

    Reply
  2. Rubab

    Great stuff, professional networking site with specified field is great idea and easy to approach relevant professionals.

    Reply
  3. Svetlana Gladkova

    This is a great collection Muhammad. But have you decided not to include marketing people on purpose? I think we use networking even more heavily than any other professionals.

    Reply
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  5. Sleep.FM

    Yes, and now there is a sleep and wake social networking site, where you wake to your contacts alarm messages (voicemails, songs, audio files) upon your alarm time passing.

    It’s revolutionizing a centuries old wake up device and in turn creating a new form of Internet communication.

    Reply
  6. KDye Vertical Leap

    Networking on LinkedIn can really revolve around strong networkers - thus there is quite a strong presence in the UK for those in the sailing industry. And of course, it’s always a good place to go for internet industry professionals.

    Reply
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  8. Dan Perry

    There are also sports-specific niche social sites out there too. I’m a big fan of golf, and for that sport, there is golfbuzz.com, thegolfspace.com, 19thhole.com, and a few more. They’re popping up like dandelions.

    Reply
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    Ya, really your site is really very useful. It helps lot in online internet marketing which is very helpful to develop business

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