Should Digg fear Yahoo’s foray into their territory? Right now, the answer is clearly no, but that may soon change, especially when the tool exits beta. Please read on for a first look at Yahoo Buzz to learn what you can expect to see right now as well as down the road.

Yes, Yahoo Buzz is in beta which means that it barely registers in the world of diggable sites. But, with the power of Yahoo! behind it, it won’t take long before everyone hears about Buzz, signs up, and waits for the opportunity to submit their pages.

Initially, just 100 publishers are being allowed to Buzz, therefore if you haven’t received an invitation from Yahoo! yet, don’t hold your breath. Eventually, the Big Y! plans on opening up the site to all interested publishers, but we don’t know when that will happen.

Those publishers who are currently participating are given an online badge which allows readers to vote/submit sites to Buzz. Blogs, photos, stories and the like can be submitted and buzz is generated as votes are cast. A Buzz Score is assigned to every submission, a score determined by search term popularity, the number of times a story is emailed from Buzz, and the number of votes a story receives.

One of the biggest benefits however, is that Yahoo! promises to feature some of the top buzzed material on the home page of their site — clearly, if you write great material, are planning to submit to Buzz, and you have shared hosting, you may want to upgrade your plan before you participate!

Critics of Buzz say it doesn’t incorporate all of the features of Digg including third-party applications or tools to help determine how a story became popular. Still, with Yahoo’s backing I don’t think anyone looking for web traffic will be complaining and I know that when the invite is sent out, I’ll be signing up.

Interested in signing up with Yahoo Buzz? Visit this link to get included. 

All right, there are people who understand this whole social networking thing better than I do. When it comes to building online contacts, I rank as a novice in the eyes of some.

On the other hand, I have figured out how to work a handful of internet tools to my advantage!

I’m not about to give all of my secrets away — you’ll have to read Dosh Dosh blog’s for his latest social media marketing tips. What I will share with you is some quick pointers on how you can build your relationship with other social network pros without turning them off.

The following is my list of 7 tips (or habits) of social networking:

1. Sign up and get a feel for the network: The New York State Lottery uses a tagline, you gotta be in it to win it. The same holds true for socializing online — you need to join several networks in order to reap the benefits. No one wins the lottery without buying a ticket, in the case of social networks your ticket is free. And, unlike the lottery, all users are winners!

2. Do not be a N00B: Everyone has to start somewhere, but if you come across as a newbie, then you’ll likely be ignored. Worse, people will think that you are a pain in the rear quarters. Read up on that network, google a search for related articles, and experiment. Do not expect someone to take you under their wing — they’re too busy working the network.

3. Be consistent: Joining a network and not participating on a regular basis will reduce the chances that your articles will get stumbled, your blog posts read, and your contacts will not consider you a serious player. Although I belong to several networks, StumbleUpon is my favorite, with Sphinn, MyBlogLog, and BlogCatalog in the mix.

4. Ask and you shall receive: If you want an article stumbled, then ask. However, ask only on occasion and be prepared to return the favor when asked. People are busy managing a wide variety of tasks every day — don’t consume their time with wasteful stuff!

5. Ask specifically, do not be greedy: Nothing frosts me more then when someone asks me to stumble their post and then follows up with a secondary request to leave a message on their blog. Sometimes I leave comments with my stumble, sometimes I do not. I will leave a message on a blog if time permits and if I have something worthy to add. Give me one request and I may follow up with a bonus if I am in the mood.

6. Build up your silent network of social network pros: There are a handful of people I contact from time to time to ask for a stumble, a sphinn, or a digg. I will never publicly reveal who my contacts are and I certainly do not want everyone to know that I am good for a stumble (okay, I am!)

7. Give, expecting nothing in return: This is a hard one for some people — stumbling, digging, and leaving comments behind unilaterally. True, I’ll scratch your back if you scratch mine is the prevalent theme of social networking, but why not set yourself apart and simply pay it forward for somebody?

How Popular Do You Want To Be?

For some people, dominating a particular social network is their way of measuring their online success. Personally, I am not so much interested in building friends (I’m maxed out on StumbleUpon), rather in sharing stumble juice, the digg effect, sphinning, etc. Operating just below the radar has its advantages, namely you won’t get every Tom, Dick, and Harriet begging for your help.

Social networking is constantly changing so keep up with the changes and you’ll be fine. If too much of your time is being consumed “building relationships online” then maybe it is time to shut down the computer and go out and seek some human contact.