If youre not in a social network join one now. All for good reason. Millions are using social networks to reach out and grow their businesses. And, the technology is catching up with the needs and demands of business professionals both large and small.

Neilsen NetRatings reports their findings of the phenomenal growth in one of their recent press releases. Social networking is red hot and continued growth is on the horizon.

Consider the following examples of social networking sites:

• Ryze.com
• LinkedIn.com
• MySpace.com
• Windows Live Spaces
• Wikipedia.com

Neilsen isnt the only one talking, Researcher Gartner Inc. identified the technologies it believes will have the greatest impact on businesses over the next 10 years, hot areas include social-network analysis.

Social Network Analysis (SNA) is rated as high impact (definition: enables new ways of performing vertical applications that will result in significantly increased revenue or cost savings for an enterprise) and capable of reaching maturity in less than two years. SNA is the use of information and knowledge from many people and their personal networks. It involves collecting massive amounts of data from multiple sources, analyzing the data to identify relationships and mining it for new information. Gartner said that SNA can successfully impact a business by being used to identify target markets, create successful project teams and serendipitously identify unvoiced conclusions.

Which social networks are you involved with for business?

True auto enthusiasts know this product and many rave about it, but did you know there is an official "Fan Club" website for this amazing product. What is the product and what is it used for?

Let's start with the uses:

Helps clean sidewalls on tires
Removes tar from chassis
Removes decals from windows and bumper
Removes insects from front grill

Loosens stuck keys on TV remote control
Removes grease from clothing
Removes adhesive tape without damaging factory paint
Helps hone cylinder walls

Prevents corrosion of spark plug cables
Removes sludge from outside engine block
Cleans and protects chrome on cars
Helps remove brake dust from wheels

Restores shine on classic cars
Cleans marks from rubber surfaces
Removes greasy fingerprints from car interior
Removes silly putty stuck on car seats

Ok, you guessed it. WD40.com. There are WD40 Fan Club Board members! And, if you go to the site there is a downloadable WD40 Spray Game you can try.

Source: AMG Mercedes-Benz Blog

Nielsen NetRatings has released their findings on the top 10 fastest growing web brands. Leading are several "user-generated content" sites; MySpace is the fastest growing while the Google brand maintains double digit growth.

The following is an excerpt from their press release (link to the full content press release is provided below):

NEW YORKâ August 10, 2006â Nielsen//NetRatings, a global leader in Internet media and market research, announced today that user-generated content sites, platforms for photo sharing, video sharing and blogging, comprised five out of the top 10 fastest growing Web brands in July 2006.

Image hosting site ImageShack ranked No. 4 among Julyâs fastest growing Web brands, increasing 233 percent, from a unique audience of 2.3 million to 7.7 million (see Table 1). Heavy.com, a video sharing site, took the No. 5 spot, increasing 213 percent, from 965,000 to 3.0 million unique visitors. Photo sharing site Flickr followed at No. 6, growing 201 percent from 2.1 million to 6.3 million unique visitors.

Other user-generated content sites that made it into the top 10 fastest growing Web brands were MySpace, with a 183 percent year-over-year increase, and Wikipedia, with a 181 percent year-over-year increase.

âUser-generated content sites have seen significant growth over the past year, owing in large part to their reliance on viral marketing,â said Jon Gibs, director of media analytics, Nielsen//NetRatings. âThey also benefit from their cost-effectiveness - the content is practically free.â

Nielsen NetRatings PR - August 10, 2006

MIXED TAPE 13 WITH 15 EXCLUSIVE SONGS!

Yet again, Mercedes-Benz presents the sounds of the future with 15 brand new tracks by international newcomers for you to explore, download and enjoy wherever you like - check out http://www.mercedes-benz.com/mixedtape to get your free compilation.

Richmond, VA, June 11 /eoecho.com/ MBUSA announced at the Mercedes-Benz Club of Americas 50th Anniversary June Jamboree event that a significant rebate will be offered to MBCA members buying a Mercedes-Benz. The rebate will range from $1,500 to $2,500 depending on the model; sorry future AMG owners, no rebate is being offered on this model. The trial period for the program is June through December 2006.

If you are a member of MBCA and you are about to purchase a car, contact MBCA (www.mbca.org) or call MBUSA for additional details. Complete information will be provided this week at: www.eoecho.com/allthingsmercedes/