When Jon Olson and John Guanzon released Social Surfing Secrets just prior to me revising this book, it caused quite a stir in Traffic Exchanges. Many of the old school Traffic Exchange marketers claimed that their results remained better in traditional TE's and their results at place like Sweeva and Thumb Vu were not as good as what the authors claimed to be the case

Hello? Well of course, if they're using traditional methods to advertise in a social environment their results won't be great. Why? Because the people being social are getting all the business - that's why.

Think about this. When you need a mechanic to fix your car who are you going to use - a guy advertising like crazy in the local newspaper or the guy you met at the kids local sporting club and who always greets you with a smile and "How are you?" - the same guy, by the way who two of your friends highly recommend.

That is social networking in the real world and social networking in Traffic Exchanges works in a very similar fashion. My own experience at StartXchange is testimony to that.

It seems like eons ago that Tim Linden introduced a forum within his StartXchange and complemented it with a chat box. I'm not sure if it was by accident or instinctive design but in doing so, Tim created a loyal community - one of the most active and vibrant on the Internet.

I used StartXchange regularly and made good connections and friendships within the community. Somewhere along the line, I stopped. It may have been coincidence, but I then experienced a gradual decline in my advertising results, not only within StartXchange, but across the traffic exchange spectrum. I tried all sorts of things to arrest the slump but it wasn't until I started to get active within StartXchange and other forums did I see my results improve at all.

So you could say I'm an advocate for being social and I'm embracing the opportunities that cutting edge sites like Sweeva and ThumbVu offer. Both of these sites have recognized the potential of integrating their browsing with the big social media networks, Facebook and Twitter

Sweeva is an innovative breath of fresh air that turns traditional Traffic Exchange practices on their head. At Sweeva -its all about being involved and active. to advertise you must bid advertising credits for time slots and then everybody online at Sweeva sees the same site instantaneously and gives feedback accordingly. This is a great way to build your brand and more importantly relationships. Members can also Tweet and like sites that they find interesting. If you haven't tried Sweeva you should experience the difference today and be sure to go with an open mind and a can do attitude.

ThumbVu has really embraced Social Media and its platform is set up to encourage as much social networking and interaction as possible. Recent enhancements have seen ThumbVu add a members articles section which allows members to post articles in the ThumbVu directory. These articles will be viewed by members and of course can be "liked" via Facebook. With more enhancements planned ThumbVu promises to be the place for online marketers to advertise, network and maybe even improve search engine rankings. It is a must join site.

"But hang on a minute Mark, I just want to surf Traffic Exchanges and advertise that way -all this Facebook and Twitter stuff is just too hard."

Just consider this. Facebook and Twitter are ready sources of totally free traffic. People who use Traffic Exchanges don't live in a vacuum. Many of them use Facebook and Twitter and they have friends in both mediums who never use Traffic Exchanges. You can potentially reach a whole new wider audience by engaging people naturally. Some people will align themselves with you. They will share your stuff. You can't buy recommendations they're earned. Let me spell that out for you.

THERE IS NO BETTER ADVERTISEMENT THAN WORD OF MOUTH - FACEBOOK AND TWITTER ARE THE NEW WORD OF MOUTH.