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WHAT IS SOCIAL NETWORKING
Friends make up our social network. This gets bigger when you get acquainted with others and this in essence is social networking.
But social networking does not end there. It also goes to specific groups like people who share a common interest or hobby. In fact, the most popular one around these days are those found online because you get to meet individuals from other places.
For this to work, someone has to organize the group and in order for it to grow, other people are invited to join. With the web at your disposal, this means creating a website.
These websites are better known as social sites and are very similar to online communities. To become a member, you have to share a common interest be it a hobby, politics or religion. Once your request for membership has been approved, you will be able to socialize by reading the profile of other members and getting in touch with them.
The advantage of joining a specialized social network is that you are sure that all the members share the same interests. Before hundreds of these appeared, people had to contend with “traditional” social networking where those who join may not have to share the same interests to become a member.
But once you are in, you can develop your own social network by finding individuals who share your interests which will take some time and effort.
An interesting feature about social networking is that members who join a site can create their own webpage. This will make people who see your profile want to get to know you which expands your social network.
Despite the advantages and benefits of social networking, there are dangers that you have to deal with. It could be something minor like someone who is impersonating a famous celebrity or worse, an online predator who uses this medium to get his or her next victim.
While websites which operate these social networks on their end try their best to prevent this from happening by screening the members and installing additional safeguards, you are advised to proceed with caution.
If you feel something is not right, report this to the administrator. If you are meeting the member in person, make sure the venue is in a public place.
People who have a lot of hobbies can join more than one social network. To begin, all you have to do is perform a standard internet search of sites which cater to your interests, check each one out and then select which one you want to join.
But social networking isn’t just about meeting new friends. Entrepreneurs and small businesses use it to establish a regular clientele and help expand their business. Healthcare professionals use it to share information about diseases so they are updated about the latest developments. Charities and non-profit organizations also use it to request for much needed aid which will be a big help to their causes.
Social networking has changed a lot through the years especially when people back then had to contend with chat rooms, instant messaging services and emails. If you are not happy with the service provided, you can cancel your membership until you are able to find the right one or use the flaws to your advantage by creating your own.
SOCIAL NETWORKING SAFETY REMINDERS
Social networking sites are now part of our culture especially when there are more than a hundred of them in cyberspace. While this may increase the number of friends you have, there are certain risks involved which is why you should keep in mind some social networking safety reminders.
Before you decide to join a social networking site, see how it works. Some social networking sites allow only members to view the profiles of other members while there are those that allow anyone even non-members to read it.
Since some people might take advantage of what you put on your profile so it is best to limit this access to people that you know. For instance, this should only be seen by your friends, your team, club, community group and family.
You shouldn’t also post anything that will make people you don’t know look for you like the name of your school, where you frequently hang out or where you work. One way of doing that is by not using your real name, age or hometown when you create your profile.
Don’t make the mistake of putting important personal information about yourself such as social security number, address, phone number or bank and credit card account numbers.
So what information could you post in a social networking site? The answer is simply anything you are comfortable with.
Just remember that anyone can see it. You could talk about your dreams, what you want to be when you grow up or where do you plan to go to college. These examples are safe because it changes so it doesn’t matter if this is saved in other people’s computers.
Another thing that a lot of social networking sites allow you to do is post a photo. You are not required to but if you do, there is another security issue because the picture can be altered and posted in another site that you will not be very happy about.
The main purpose of joining a social network is to make friends. Since you can’t tell if the person is serious or just playing around, you should take some extra precautions. You can do this by asking your friends if they know this individual or simply typing their name in the search engine and see what comes up.
If there are no red flags and he or she wants to meet you, make sure that this is done in a public place and tell someone you know where you are going, who you are meeting and what time you will be back.
Listen to your gut and if at any point you feel uncomfortable, leave immediately. Should this person persist, get help. This matter should be reported to the police and to the social networking site so this individual’s membership is revoked and banned for life.
You should also tell others about your experience so if this person joins another social networking site, their membership will also be revoked. Should others encounter the same person or someone similar, they will know what to do so they don’t become the next victim.
There are risks involved when you meet someone through the web which is why even if social networking is a lot of fun, you should always keep in mind with these safety reminders.
WHAT DO SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES HAVE IN COMMON
The number of social networking sites has increased rapidly and the vast majority is simply an off shoot of MySpace or Facebook. As a result, people don’t use it just to stay in touch with friends but to make new ones as long as they have the same interests, political views and activities.
As you can see, social networking sites cater to a diverse audience. This is why some specialize in business, religion, sex and a few other things. Each one allows you to post blogs, photos and videos. At the same time, your friends can post comments.
This begins by becoming a member. Each person has to fill up the form and answer a few questions. This normally includes what will be your username, age, gender, location, interests and an “about me” section. You are not required but encouraged to upload a photo so people will be able to put a face to the name.
When it is finished, you get to choose the visibility of your profile. Can anyone see it or will this be limited only to your friends. The social networking site will ensure that your decision in this matter is respected.
Eventually your list of contacts will grow and this in essence is what social networking is all about. Some of those individuals are people you really know while the rest are acquaintances which could develop into something more in the future. You can leave messages when your contact is offline similar to webmail which many of us are already used to.
But not social networking sites started this way. This just evolved later on and one good example is Classmates which was initially designed to help you find old colleagues from secondary school and college.
In order to compete with other social networking sites, developers have to come up with better features which the others don’t offer. Some examples of these include built-blogging, mobile interactions, RSS feeds, URL blocklist, application sharing, multiple language support, smarty templates, article rating, multiple authors and a lot more.
You just have to try each one to see if you are happy with their service. If you are not, then you can always close your account and open a new one somewhere else.
Despite all the fanfare, one thing that social networking sites are greatly concerned about is privacy primarily concerning the usage of the younger users. This is because they may be naïve enough to meet people on the net and sadly they become victims of a heinous crime. While most developers have taken steps to try and prevent this, the parents of those who use it need to do their share as well by monitoring how their kids use it and activating the security settings.
Social networking sites regardless of how big or small they are now have a lot in common. What distinguishes them is their target audience and what other features they may offer that will make you decide to sign up with them.
You can also read reviews or ask your friends about what social networking sites are they members of since you want to be in the same group. If you can’t decide, you can open several accounts and just take time to update and use them.
CAN SOCIAL NETWORKING HELP YOU FIND LOVE
Some people have searched high and low to find love. They have gone to bars and told a friend to hook them up but still no success. Should you give up? No because there you might just find it through social networking.
Social networking allows you to make new friends. In this case, finding Mr. or Mrs. Right so they can live happily ever after. For this to work, the first thing you have to do is become a member. Some of these sites allow you to join for free while there are others that will require you to pay a small fee.
After completing your profile, the social networking site will match your requirements with the existing database and then provide you with a list of some prospects.
What you will see in your account is the member’s photograph and brief version of who they are. If you want to know more, you can click on their profile. Should this person sound interesting, it is time to initiate contact and hopefully, that person will respond in kind.
The first point of contact is usually through email. If things are going well, then you can exchange telephone numbers and get to know each other some more. The next step is considered to be a “big” decision because it is here that you will decide to meet this person for the first time and hope that things will work out.
You should be cautious because it is really scary to meet someone you have never met before. Remember that just because he or she says this is who they are doesn’t necessarily mean that it is true so if at any point you feel something amiss, it is best to end it and find someone else.
You should schedule the meet in a private place, bring a friend along or tell your friends who you are meeting so if anything should happen, they can report it to the authorities.
But there are some individuals who use social networking sites for other purposes. For instance, there are specialty dating sites that are designed to hook people up. Another name for it is called a swinger’s club and you could have a lot of fun as long as you are open-minded about it.
Before you join a social networking site looking for love or any other purpose, you should be sure that it has systems in place that is designed to protect your personal information so it cannot be hacked especially when incidents of identity theft are on the rise.
Will social networking make you finally meet true love? The answer is no but there is always that possibility. You just have to put yourself out there and hope for the best because that is all anyone can ask for.
There are hundreds of social networking sites that can help you find love and it does not cater only to men or women but also to gays and lesbians as well. If you believe that there is someone out there, sign up, become a member and post your profile. If things are not going so well, post your profile in another site because you are selling yourself to someone who is interested in accepting you for whom you are.
THE MANY BENEFITS THAT TODAY’S SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES CAN PROVIDE
If you’ve previously resisted invitations to join social networking sites because you regarded them as mere trends, then you should consider the other benefits to be had from these sites.
One of the most obvious benefits that these sites offer is the ability to keep in touch with friends and family anywhere in the world. With the bulletin board updates, you could read about how your friends and relatives are doing. You can be quickly informed if they’re getting married or if they’ve gotten sick and need a friendly call to wish them well. You could also find long lost classmates and acquaintances and drop them a message to see how they’re doing.
CAN YOU USE A SOCIAL NETWORK FOR YOUR WORK OR FOR BUSINESS PURPOSES?
You could also get business benefits through online networking. Are you an entrepreneur thinking about how to use the networking sites for your business? You can think of social networking as a type of free online advertisement. By creating a bulletin board notice, you could inform the people in your network of the existence of your product and its benefits. You could also include information regarding how to buy the product or how to contact you through the social network. And you may also ask the people in your network to post your advertisement as well. If you’ve written an interesting advertisement, it might end up reaching a lot more people just like a viral advertisement.
If you’re an artist or a performer, you could use your social network to inform people about your upcoming events. You could post video on the homepage of your online network to entice people and give them an idea about you as an artist. You could easily use the online networking sites to gain many more fans online. This type of promotion is something that would have cost a lot of money before the advent of these online networking sites.
Even politicians have taken to using these social networks. By joining these social networks, they can make it easier for the people to know about their views and policies. This also makes it easier for them to get new supporters from the usually younger crowd. This also gives their supporters a way to contact them easily. You could send messages to politicians telling them about your opinions on different political issues.
You could also use these social networks to make people more aware about the issues you care about. If you care about certain issues, you could create an article or bulletin board message for the people in your network to read. That way, you could inform more people about these matters and get their support. You could also think of these networking sites as a news source. You could keep yourself informed about the matters that people are currently talking about.
Even companies and organizations have started creating online network accounts. That way, their members could link up with the organizations’ account and any organization news could easily be disseminated. This makes for an inexpensive way to keep every worker or organization member informed.
Knowing the many benefits that these social networking sites can provide, you will surely agree that you should create an account and build an online network of contacts as soon as possible.
SIX POPULAR SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES
Social networking is now part of our culture. In fact, there are so many to choose from and those who decide to become a member of one are more likely to become a member of another. Just to give you an idea of what is around, here are six of some of the most popular social networking sites.
1. The first is called Facebook. As of July last year, it has the largest number of registered users among college focused sites with more than 34 million members worldwide. Although it is the seventh most visited site in the US, it ranks number one for photos. What makes this social networking site so special is that it generates revenues through advertising which according to some is a little over $1.5 million a week.
2. Next is MySpace which was founded in 2003. According to a study, this social networking site is the world’s sixth most popular English language website and the third most popular in the US. Similar to Facebook, members are able to post pictures, videos, blogs and music.
3. The third is YouTube which unlike the other two only focuses on the uploading, viewing and sharing of video clips. Established in 2005, members are able to upload videos for free and save those which they like in their account. If you want to save this in your computer, there are software programs you can use. The nice thing about this social networking site is that even unregistered users are also able to watch videos.
4. The fourth site is Second Life which is an Internet based virtual world. What makes this so different from the other three is the fact that you are able to create a character and then interact with other members. By interacting with other members, you are able to participate in individual and group activities, create and trade items and services with one another again in a virtual setting.
To date, this social networking site has 8.9 million registered residents with a majority of them that happen to be inactive and some of them are owned by one person.
5. For business networking, one of the most popular ones around is Linkedin which has 12.5 million members. Established in 2003, this social networking site is designed to give registered users a way to maintain contact with people they know so those within the connection can use it to find business opportunities, find jobs and new contacts as well as review or recruit potential candidates.
6. One of the oldest social networking sites around is Classmates which has over 40 million members. Established in 1995, it is a great way to connect with old friends back from high school or college. After so many years, you and your friends have changed and now have successful careers which you can use should you decide to go into business together.
These are just a few of the hundreds of social networking sites around. What makes each of these so popular is the fact that members are able to use it for free and when used for business, they don’t have to pay for advertising. That is unless of course you will be utilizing pop up ads and banners. But the simplest way is to post links to your webpage so members who may need your products or services will get in touch with you or recommend you to someone who needs it.
WHAT IS SOCIAL NETWORKING
Friends make up our social network. This gets bigger when you get acquainted with others and this in essence is social networking.
But social networking does not end there. It also goes to specific groups like people who share a common interest or hobby. In fact, the most popular one around these days are those found online because you get to meet individuals from other places.
For this to work, someone has to organize the group and in order for it to grow, other people are invited to join. With the web at your disposal, this means creating a website.
These websites are better known as social sites and are very similar to online communities. To become a member, you have to share a common interest be it a hobby, politics or religion. Once your request for membership has been approved, you will be able to socialize by reading the profile of other members and getting in touch with them.
The advantage of joining a specialized social network is that you are sure that all the members share the same interests. Before hundreds of these appeared, people had to contend with “traditional” social networking where those who join may not have to share the same interests to become a member.
But once you are in, you can develop your own social network by finding individuals who share your interests which will take some time and effort.
An interesting feature about social networking is that members who join a site can create their own webpage. This will make people who see your profile want to get to know you which expands your social network.
Despite the advantages and benefits of social networking, there are dangers that you have to deal with. It could be something minor like someone who is impersonating a famous celebrity or worse, an online predator who uses this medium to get his or her next victim.
While websites which operate these social networks on their end try their best to prevent this from happening by screening the members and installing additional safeguards, you are advised to proceed with caution.
If you feel something is not right, report this to the administrator. If you are meeting the member in person, make sure the venue is in a public place.
People who have a lot of hobbies can join more than one social network. To begin, all you have to do is perform a standard internet search of sites which cater to your interests, check each one out and then select which one you want to join.
But social networking isn’t just about meeting new friends. Entrepreneurs and small businesses use it to establish a regular clientele and help expand their business. Healthcare professionals use it to share information about diseases so they are updated about the latest developments. Charities and non-profit organizations also use it to request for much needed aid which will be a big help to their causes.
Social networking has changed a lot through the years especially when people back then had to contend with chat rooms, instant messaging services and emails. If you are not happy with the service provided, you can cancel your membership until you are able to find the right one or use the flaws to your advantage by creating your own.
SOCIAL NETWORKING SAFETY REMINDERS
Social networking sites are now part of our culture especially when there are more than a hundred of them in cyberspace. While this may increase the number of friends you have, there are certain risks involved which is why you should keep in mind some social networking safety reminders.
Before you decide to join a social networking site, see how it works. Some social networking sites allow only members to view the profiles of other members while there are those that allow anyone even non-members to read it.
Since some people might take advantage of what you put on your profile so it is best to limit this access to people that you know. For instance, this should only be seen by your friends, your team, club, community group and family.
You shouldn’t also post anything that will make people you don’t know look for you like the name of your school, where you frequently hang out or where you work. One way of doing that is by not using your real name, age or hometown when you create your profile.
Don’t make the mistake of putting important personal information about yourself such as social security number, address, phone number or bank and credit card account numbers.
So what information could you post in a social networking site? The answer is simply anything you are comfortable with.
Just remember that anyone can see it. You could talk about your dreams, what you want to be when you grow up or where do you plan to go to college. These examples are safe because it changes so it doesn’t matter if this is saved in other people’s computers.
Another thing that a lot of social networking sites allow you to do is post a photo. You are not required to but if you do, there is another security issue because the picture can be altered and posted in another site that you will not be very happy about.
The main purpose of joining a social network is to make friends. Since you can’t tell if the person is serious or just playing around, you should take some extra precautions. You can do this by asking your friends if they know this individual or simply typing their name in the search engine and see what comes up.
If there are no red flags and he or she wants to meet you, make sure that this is done in a public place and tell someone you know where you are going, who you are meeting and what time you will be back.
Listen to your gut and if at any point you feel uncomfortable, leave immediately. Should this person persist, get help. This matter should be reported to the police and to the social networking site so this individual’s membership is revoked and banned for life.
You should also tell others about your experience so if this person joins another social networking site, their membership will also be revoked. Should others encounter the same person or someone similar, they will know what to do so they don’t become the next victim.
There are risks involved when you meet someone through the web which is why even if social networking is a lot of fun, you should always keep in mind with these safety reminders.
WHAT DO SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES HAVE IN COMMON
The number of social networking sites has increased rapidly and the vast majority is simply an off shoot of MySpace or Facebook. As a result, people don’t use it just to stay in touch with friends but to make new ones as long as they have the same interests, political views and activities.
As you can see, social networking sites cater to a diverse audience. This is why some specialize in business, religion, sex and a few other things. Each one allows you to post blogs, photos and videos. At the same time, your friends can post comments.
This begins by becoming a member. Each person has to fill up the form and answer a few questions. This normally includes what will be your username, age, gender, location, interests and an “about me” section. You are not required but encouraged to upload a photo so people will be able to put a face to the name.
When it is finished, you get to choose the visibility of your profile. Can anyone see it or will this be limited only to your friends. The social networking site will ensure that your decision in this matter is respected.
Eventually your list of contacts will grow and this in essence is what social networking is all about. Some of those individuals are people you really know while the rest are acquaintances which could develop into something more in the future. You can leave messages when your contact is offline similar to webmail which many of us are already used to.
But not social networking sites started this way. This just evolved later on and one good example is Classmates which was initially designed to help you find old colleagues from secondary school and college.
In order to compete with other social networking sites, developers have to come up with better features which the others don’t offer. Some examples of these include built-blogging, mobile interactions, RSS feeds, URL blocklist, application sharing, multiple language support, smarty templates, article rating, multiple authors and a lot more.
You just have to try each one to see if you are happy with their service. If you are not, then you can always close your account and open a new one somewhere else.
Despite all the fanfare, one thing that social networking sites are greatly concerned about is privacy primarily concerning the usage of the younger users. This is because they may be naïve enough to meet people on the net and sadly they become victims of a heinous crime. While most developers have taken steps to try and prevent this, the parents of those who use it need to do their share as well by monitoring how their kids use it and activating the security settings.
Social networking sites regardless of how big or small they are now have a lot in common. What distinguishes them is their target audience and what other features they may offer that will make you decide to sign up with them.
You can also read reviews or ask your friends about what social networking sites are they members of since you want to be in the same group. If you can’t decide, you can open several accounts and just take time to update and use them.
CAN SOCIAL NETWORKING HELP YOU FIND LOVE
Some people have searched high and low to find love. They have gone to bars and told a friend to hook them up but still no success. Should you give up? No because there you might just find it through social networking.
Social networking allows you to make new friends. In this case, finding Mr. or Mrs. Right so they can live happily ever after. For this to work, the first thing you have to do is become a member. Some of these sites allow you to join for free while there are others that will require you to pay a small fee.
After completing your profile, the social networking site will match your requirements with the existing database and then provide you with a list of some prospects.
What you will see in your account is the member’s photograph and brief version of who they are. If you want to know more, you can click on their profile. Should this person sound interesting, it is time to initiate contact and hopefully, that person will respond in kind.
The first point of contact is usually through email. If things are going well, then you can exchange telephone numbers and get to know each other some more. The next step is considered to be a “big” decision because it is here that you will decide to meet this person for the first time and hope that things will work out.
You should be cautious because it is really scary to meet someone you have never met before. Remember that just because he or she says this is who they are doesn’t necessarily mean that it is true so if at any point you feel something amiss, it is best to end it and find someone else.
You should schedule the meet in a private place, bring a friend along or tell your friends who you are meeting so if anything should happen, they can report it to the authorities.
But there are some individuals who use social networking sites for other purposes. For instance, there are specialty dating sites that are designed to hook people up. Another name for it is called a swinger’s club and you could have a lot of fun as long as you are open-minded about it.
Before you join a social networking site looking for love or any other purpose, you should be sure that it has systems in place that is designed to protect your personal information so it cannot be hacked especially when incidents of identity theft are on the rise.
Will social networking make you finally meet true love? The answer is no but there is always that possibility. You just have to put yourself out there and hope for the best because that is all anyone can ask for.
There are hundreds of social networking sites that can help you find love and it does not cater only to men or women but also to gays and lesbians as well. If you believe that there is someone out there, sign up, become a member and post your profile. If things are not going so well, post your profile in another site because you are selling yourself to someone who is interested in accepting you for whom you are.
THE MANY BENEFITS THAT TODAY’S SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES CAN PROVIDE
If you’ve previously resisted invitations to join social networking sites because you regarded them as mere trends, then you should consider the other benefits to be had from these sites.
One of the most obvious benefits that these sites offer is the ability to keep in touch with friends and family anywhere in the world. With the bulletin board updates, you could read about how your friends and relatives are doing. You can be quickly informed if they’re getting married or if they’ve gotten sick and need a friendly call to wish them well. You could also find long lost classmates and acquaintances and drop them a message to see how they’re doing.
CAN YOU USE A SOCIAL NETWORK FOR YOUR WORK OR FOR BUSINESS PURPOSES?
You could also get business benefits through online networking. Are you an entrepreneur thinking about how to use the networking sites for your business? You can think of social networking as a type of free online advertisement. By creating a bulletin board notice, you could inform the people in your network of the existence of your product and its benefits. You could also include information regarding how to buy the product or how to contact you through the social network. And you may also ask the people in your network to post your advertisement as well. If you’ve written an interesting advertisement, it might end up reaching a lot more people just like a viral advertisement.
If you’re an artist or a performer, you could use your social network to inform people about your upcoming events. You could post video on the homepage of your online network to entice people and give them an idea about you as an artist. You could easily use the online networking sites to gain many more fans online. This type of promotion is something that would have cost a lot of money before the advent of these online networking sites.
Even politicians have taken to using these social networks. By joining these social networks, they can make it easier for the people to know about their views and policies. This also makes it easier for them to get new supporters from the usually younger crowd. This also gives their supporters a way to contact them easily. You could send messages to politicians telling them about your opinions on different political issues.
You could also use these social networks to make people more aware about the issues you care about. If you care about certain issues, you could create an article or bulletin board message for the people in your network to read. That way, you could inform more people about these matters and get their support. You could also think of these networking sites as a news source. You could keep yourself informed about the matters that people are currently talking about.
Even companies and organizations have started creating online network accounts. That way, their members could link up with the organizations’ account and any organization news could easily be disseminated. This makes for an inexpensive way to keep every worker or organization member informed.
Knowing the many benefits that these social networking sites can provide, you will surely agree that you should create an account and build an online network of contacts as soon as possible.
SIX POPULAR SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES
Social networking is now part of our culture. In fact, there are so many to choose from and those who decide to become a member of one are more likely to become a member of another. Just to give you an idea of what is around, here are six of some of the most popular social networking sites.
1. The first is called Facebook. As of July last year, it has the largest number of registered users among college focused sites with more than 34 million members worldwide. Although it is the seventh most visited site in the US, it ranks number one for photos. What makes this social networking site so special is that it generates revenues through advertising which according to some is a little over $1.5 million a week.
2. Next is MySpace which was founded in 2003. According to a study, this social networking site is the world’s sixth most popular English language website and the third most popular in the US. Similar to Facebook, members are able to post pictures, videos, blogs and music.
3. The third is YouTube which unlike the other two only focuses on the uploading, viewing and sharing of video clips. Established in 2005, members are able to upload videos for free and save those which they like in their account. If you want to save this in your computer, there are software programs you can use. The nice thing about this social networking site is that even unregistered users are also able to watch videos.
4. The fourth site is Second Life which is an Internet based virtual world. What makes this so different from the other three is the fact that you are able to create a character and then interact with other members. By interacting with other members, you are able to participate in individual and group activities, create and trade items and services with one another again in a virtual setting.
To date, this social networking site has 8.9 million registered residents with a majority of them that happen to be inactive and some of them are owned by one person.
5. For business networking, one of the most popular ones around is Linkedin which has 12.5 million members. Established in 2003, this social networking site is designed to give registered users a way to maintain contact with people they know so those within the connection can use it to find business opportunities, find jobs and new contacts as well as review or recruit potential candidates.
6. One of the oldest social networking sites around is Classmates which has over 40 million members. Established in 1995, it is a great way to connect with old friends back from high school or college. After so many years, you and your friends have changed and now have successful careers which you can use should you decide to go into business together.
These are just a few of the hundreds of social networking sites around. What makes each of these so popular is the fact that members are able to use it for free and when used for business, they don’t have to pay for advertising. That is unless of course you will be utilizing pop up ads and banners. But the simplest way is to post links to your webpage so members who may need your products or services will get in touch with you or recommend you to someone who needs it.
