Hi there, and welcome to TechBites. In this short article I thought I would give you a few hints and tips that will (hopefully) make things a lot easier.

Your Profile
When you first join TechBites, all you need to do is provide your name and email address; also to provide a user name and password (these latter two items are used only by you to manage your account).

You don’t have to add anything else to your profile but... personally I think it's useful to briefly summarize your areas of expertise and interest, and possibly your company affiliation; for example: "I'm an expert at implementing DSP algorithms in FPGAs for audio and video applications; I'm a mega-senior design engineer at Billy-Joe-Jim-Bob's DSP Emporium."

The only reason for doing this is that when you interact with the site in any way – like reviewing an article or contributing to a discussion or even posting your own content – if people click on your name they will be taken to your profile, and this will help them decide whether or not you know what you are talking about (grin).

Actually, it's also a good idea to specify your location – only your City, State, and Country. This allows you to appear on profile maps (for folks with whom you become friends) and community maps (for those communities you join). If you don’t specify this, the system may assign you to the default country of Afghanistan.

Your Avatar
As soon as possible, it would be great if you could go to your profile and upload a picture of yourself. This is especially the case if you plan on reviewing articles and joining discussions and even creating your own content, because other folks like to know who they are "talking to." Take a look around the site – click on a few images to visit their owner's profiles. Do you prefer the ones with pictures or the ones with the default avatar? Consider the following:

The fellow on the left is obviously witty, charming, a great conversationalist, and an expert at all forms of electronic design. By comparison, would you buy a used car from the character on the right? I certainly wouldn't. If you simply aren’t comfortable uploading a picture of yourself, then you may want to consider using a graphic image. Consider the following, for example; I personally prefer the interesting graphic on the left to the default avatar on the right:

Join Existing Communities
The next step is to click on the Communities item in the main navigation and take a look at what's on offer (it would be a good idea if you were to return to this on a regular basis, because new communities are appearing all the time).

When you find a community in which you are interested, visit it and click on its Join Community tab (you can be a member of as many communities as you wish, of course). As a member of a community you will be able to peruse and ponder any content that's posted there, write messages on its wall, join existing discussions and instigate new ones, and generally have a good time.

Sign Up For Weekly Newsletters
We don’t believe in making folks do things they don’t want to do, so it's up to you to opt-in to those things in which you are interested. A good idea is to sign up for the weekly newsletters associated with any communities in which you have an interest using the Newsletter(s) module you'll find in the upper left-hand column (take a look at this Article on Newsletters that I wrote).

Make Friends
TechBites is not a dating service and we don’t send you Birthday Cards (hence the fact that there's nowhere for you to add your date-of-birth in your profile). One the other hand, one of the big things about a social networking site is that it gives you a great opportunity to be social (grin).

For example, if you read an article or a review or a wall posting or a discussion entry and you like it – be daring, click on the author's avatar or name, visit their profile, and click the Add as Friend link. The worst that can happen is that they say "No." More likely they will say "Yes," in which case you've just added a new friend to your circle.

Do "Stuff" – Get Involved – Gain Karma Points
The more "stuff" you do and the more you interact with the TechBites site, the more Karma points you get. As I pen these words, for example, I just bounced over to my profile and I see that I have 305 Karma points which equates to three Karma "Beans".

What are Karma points/beans for? Well they aren’t "for" anything per se. What they do is provide an indication as to a member's level of involvement with – and contribution to – the site (they also provide bragging rights; for example, I'm in an ongoing competition with the nefarious Brian Bailey, who is the leader of the ESL and Verification communities).

What's the algorithm behind the Karma points? I don’t know. Trust me, I've tried to find out, but those who don the undergarments of authority and stride the corridors of power refuse to tell me. All I know is two things... first, everything you do gains you Karma points – making friends, joining communities, writing on walls, contributing to discussions, reviewing other people's articles (and adding comments to other people's reviews of other people's articles), and adding your own content as discussed below...

Second, the algorithm is non-linear (I'm beginning to think it's logarithmic). It's easy to get your first couple of points and your first half of a Karma Bean ... but things get progressively harder and harder. You'll see what I mean.

But Karma points are just the "Cream on top of the cake." The main thing is to get involved in your communities, to start reviewing other people's articles and creating your own, and generally getting the most out of your TechBites experience.

Invite Friends
We would really appreciate it if you would help us spread the word about TechBites. Perhaps you could simply tell your friends and workmates. Also, you can use the Invite Friends link in the upper-left-hand-column of the TechBites window to invite folks from your social networks like LinkedIn.

Add Your Own Blogs, Articles, Reviews, and Tech-Tips
The great thing about TechBites is that you can add your own content, and this content can appear in whichever community (or communities) you wish.

You might start with a simple Blog about something that interests you and that you think will be of interest to others. Then maybe write a Review about a book you read, or a product you purchased, or a tool you used (was it wonderful ... or was it dreadful?); or how about an interesting Tech-Tip, or even a full-blown Article? You are in charge – it’s all in your hands.

If you are interested in creating your own content items, go to TB-Articles in the main navigation and perform a search for "How to Add Content" (alternatively you could simply Click Here to access the article).

Create Your Own Community
Do you have a particular area of expertise or an interest in some scientific or technological area that isn’t already covered by an existing community? If so, why not create your own? It's fast, it's easy, and our Creating Your Own TechBites Community article tells you everything you need to know.