Social Networking. Good Grief!

I was trying not to be distracted by the fishnet hose, the French beret, and the incredibly stylish retro jacket.

So much fashion sense and brains to boot. Life is not fair.

I was supposed to be picking Megan Strout’s brain about social networking/social media for ways to help my readers, you understand. One benefit of being a writer is you never have to admit you are clueless you just pretend your readers need to know.

So, just what is social networking?

“It’s a cocktail party,” says Meg with her usual impish grin. She totally knows I’m baffled.

“By that I mean, it’s where you go to meet interesting people and learn new things,” she explains.

She tells me that by using free sites like Facebook and Twitter you can also market yourself, your business, your favorite charity or events.

She claims social networking is a great way to make new friends.

“What about the scary people,” I ask, thinking of her parents and how much they want her to be safe. Apparently, there are a thousand mysterious ways you can avoid scary people with technology, using a block, whatever that is. She assures me that avoiding trouble on the Internet is a lot like avoiding it in real life, common sense.

She showed me an app (that’s short for application) called yelp.com available on techy cell phones. Apparently it’s an example of the coolest new thing in social networking, “Location-Based Social Review Sites” as Meg calls them.

Strategic if you have a small business; an excellent way to find out who loves your business, keep in touch with customers, and get honest feedback on customer issues that can be corrected.

She typed Mexican Food into the search window of her iphone and up popped nearby restaurants. One great restaurant had a terrific and accurate review. My personal favorite did not.

If you have a small business, you can go to yelp.com and write a review or offer a coupon-type incentive for folks to come by.

Personally, I’m totally freaked out that Meg’s iphone knew where we were.

“GPS,” she explains. There’s that impish grin again.

Still, I’ve already installed yelp.com on my iphone. They make you take a picture before you can post a review.

After several really awful pictures of myself, I opted for a picture of the K on my keyboard. Not a bad shot.

Cathy Primer Krafve, aka Checklist Charlie, lives and writes with a Texas twang. Comments are invited at http://checklistcharlie.blogspot.com.