As I've mentioned here before, things are really rough up here in Michigan, and trying to find work is especially frustrating.  My own business has been up and down like the Magnum 2000XL roller coaster at Cedar Point--good some months, and just about nothing in others.  Just to get us through the next few months, I'm looking at getting a steady hourly job just to make ends meet while my better half's Aflac business gets rolling.

Anyway, I've been looking into some online networking options.  Not sure what is out there, or what is any good.  Any input from others here would be appreciated.

I'm on LinkedIn already. 

I also came across Spoke, but it doesn't seem to be as reliable as others out there.  For instance, I see my ex listed as working at Ford Motor Co....she works *with* Ford on the service manuals, on a daily basis, but is not employed by them.  She is also listed at her actual place of employment.  As for me, I'm shown associated with websites that I ran as leisure sites.  It's apparent that Spoke has used some data mining, as they could only get my real name from my domain records.  (I changed them a few years ago to keep my real name away from the data miners, actually.)  Not sure I want to associate myself with this type of company.

Forget the sites like Myspace, Facebook, etc. 

Any others I should look at?  While employment or business building is my main thrust right now, I'm hoping that there are some others out there that have some recognition and can help me.

I've been a member there for several years, along with Career Builder.  They're satisfactory for job postings, but not for networking.  One of my connections on LinkedIn is COO of a career management company in Kansas City, a friend I've known as he is one of the moderators of another forum I run.  He mentioned that the majority of job openings are filled by having connections. 

In the last 15-20 years...
Its not WHAT you know, or WHAT you can do...
Its WHO you know and went to school with..

Iv seen many places that would rather TRAIN you in BASIC materials then to HIRe someone that may know MORE then they want you to know...
As a receptionist that knows HOW to optimize a computer...NOPE, you wont get the job.

You've got it, ECA--it's who you know!  My first gig was in the family business, but after 17 years, I watched us go from record sales years to being run out of business.  Second gig, I got picked up by one of our customers.  Connections work!

Problem here now is that even my connections can't help--nobody is hiring. 

WELL,

i would LOVe to get an idea running..

I'd love to get a server farm up and running..
Add to it computer TRAINING, REAL programming...Hardware and software...(windows is LASt on the list)  A real 4 year course..
Add to that, and MAP making group for MOSt of the gaming companies..
Add to this, IP SITE BACKUPS..  backup sites, and compress them for recovery, which is about $1000-$10,000 per site..per month..Do you know how many sites DONT backup??  or that the COSt of recovery is VERY VERY HIGH..

NOw the fun part..
we either locate in the middle of NOWHERE, or Just accross the border in Mexico(CHEAP LIVING)...Low cost employees, on one of the MAIN fiber intersections...