Savvy Social Networking

Facebook isn't just for finding out who your high school sweetheart is engaged to. Believe it or not, there are constructive purposes to those seemingly irrelevant Tweets and Facebook status updates--here's how to use them to clinch a social and professional edge.

Complete Yourself

It never hurts to go into detail. Try being specific in as many categpries as possible so friends and interested business contacts have all your information and can make decisions about your social or professional caliber. Offering up unique interests or traits also allows others to connect with you via keywords, which might open up the door to new friends who also enjoy knit-a-thons.

Play It Safe

In light of supplying plenty of details, beware of the over-share. Complaining about your kid's teacher in a status update may seem harmless, but word travels fast--and in the age of social networking, you may not want to find out how fast. Before writing or posting anything on the Web, check yourself: Would you be OK with an employer seeing it? What about your parents? Could an off-color joke in your blog be taken out of context? When in doubt, delete.

Don't Be Afraid To Add

Everyone has a friend who knows a friend who shook hands with the president. That same friend might know a guy who went to school with the head of human resources at a company you've been eyeing. See the connection? "We know the same people" is always a good reason to connect, and professional networking sites, such as LinkedIn, may be among the greatest untapped resources for directly contacting employers or HR executives (versus sending out your resume into a virtual black hole).

Make a Date

Whether you're an all-out career woman or a full-time mother, there isn't much time left in the day for cocktail hour with your girlfriends. Try setting up a group chat date with the gang from high school (many sites feature live chat) or scheduling a weekly game of online Scrabble with your best friend who lives on the other side of the country.

Tweet Beat

Finding a job via Twitter? It happens. Many professionals who engage in career-oriented Tweeting often post job openings at their companies, and some company marketing coordinators even advertise positions on their company's Twitter account.