Using public Wi-Fi can be something of a frustrating experience - if you can locate a connection at all, then speed and reliability can be a problem and if you don’t get it free with your broadband contract then the only other real option is to pay. Virgin and O2 plan to give us much more choice, and are moving into the free public Wi-Fi market in a serious way, but what’s on offer now and can we really expect to see a decent national free Wi-Fi network any time soon?

To become a great networker you have to work at that too! Those that work on it and practise consistently are the ones that become ‘fluent’. The basic foundation of any language is its alphabet, and it’s the ability to combine the right letters in that alphabet that helps people to ‘master’ the language. So I thought I’d try and develop an alphabet for effective networking!

Gartner analysts have examined the way social networks shape consumer buying behaviour. They concluded the majority of consumers rely to some extent on social networks to guide them in their purchase decisions. These social networks often include individuals who fulfil different roles or functions in recommending products to people they are connected with.