Q/A Friday: What are 5 useful resources to help me get my Social Networking questions answered?

Q: I’m a beginner/intermediate/advanced user and need some resources to help me out. What do you recommend?

Image via renjith krishnan

A: Excellent question! Just keep in mind that there are plenty more resources available than what’s on this list, but it's a great starting point.

1. Mashable Guidebooks
   Mashable has created great, multi-level guidebooks for both Facebook and Twitter. Topics range from Intro/101 to using these platforms for business to platform-specific topics like Twitter Lists and Managing Your Facebook Wall.
2. Social Media Examiner How-To SectionBesides Mashable, one of my favorite social media blogs is the Social Media Examiner, and they just happen to have a great and constantly changing How-To Section. (At time of publication, current how-to’s include “5 Ways to Enhance Your Facebook Timeline Page With Images” and “5 Tips to Becoming a Top Blog in Your Industry”)
3. Inman Next
   Chris Smith, Katie Lance and the rest of the Inman Next crew do a fantastic job of making social manageable, especially for those in the real estate industry. Whether you're looking for something long and detailed or short and sweet, video or text, mobile or social, Inman Next has something for you. Make sure you check out their Next TV section and join the InmanNext Daily Delivery group on Facebook!
4. Tech Support Group for Agents on Facebook
   What started out as a small group of agents helping each other with social media and technology has grown to nearly 4,000, but don't let that number scare you! The great thing about having such a large (and active) group is that questions tend to be answered in less than 15 minutes, and there's no such thing as a too simple or dumb question. Thanks to the group search feature, you can see if your question has already been asked, and there are extensive docs within the group featuring information on vendors, webinars, apps and more. Join us!
5. Google
   The solver of all life’s problems :) Keep in mind that you can skip using words like "the," but it's sometimes easier to drill down to your subject using operators. For example, searching facebook site:mashable.com will yield pages on Mashable that reference Facebook and searching facebook filetype:doc will yield .doc files that reference Facebook. Check out this great infographic on effective Google searching and Google's search help article for more information.