<img class="stroke-black-1" style="float: right;" src="https://opedge.com/Content/OldArticles/images/2009-07_13/TRandolph.jpg" alt="Tonja Randolph" width="171" height="210" hspace="4" vspace="4" /> Eight years ago, I joined <a href="https://opedge.dev/3272">classmates.com</a> to "reconnect" with old friends. I paid the annual membership fee, logged on, and instantly became addicted! I had moved around a lot as a kid and found myself thinking of many past acquaintances. I became enthralled with "looking up" old classmates, teachers, and neighbors. I connected with friends I hadn't heard from in years, and I now stay in touch with a few of them. I've even met new people through various online groups. Knowing how compelling online connections have become, we discussed ways to get <em>The O&P EDGE</em> content to even more readers when we launched the new oandp.com this spring. Social networking websites such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn were high on our list. According to a Nielsen report, Facebook, the world's most popular social network, is visited monthly by three in every ten people online across the nine markets in which Nielsen tracks social-networking use. Social-networking platforms provide a forum for meeting like-minded people, as well as a way to spread messages beyond your immediate community. Obviously, many people out there are trying to connect or reconnect, and whether you're new to O&P or have been around it for a long time, there is so much out there to be learned. We decided to set up a page for <em>The O&P EDGE</em> on Facebook. We understand that our readers are busy and may not have time to visit oandp.com every day, so we are providing an additional tool in which to deliver O&P news and information to you. In just over one week, we have attracted nearly 100 fans. Each week, we will post links to several Hot Off the Press news items that we think would most interest the O&P community. What else would you like to see on our Facebook page? Let us know what you think; we greatly appreciate all of your suggestions and comments. <em>The O&P EDGE</em> is also conducting a readership/advertising survey this summer. We spend a lot of time planning each year's editorial coverage and tailoring it to what's hot, new, and exciting in the world of O&P. Receiving feedback from our readers about what you enjoy reading, which departments you read most and are most interested in, if you like our design and creativity, and general suggestions for improvement truly helps us prepare for the upcoming year. Please watch your e-mail inboxes for an invitation to take our ten-minute survey. We will hold a drawing for six $50 Visa gift cards to those who complete our survey. Some questions will be based on advertisements found in this issue. We take our relationships with our readers very seriously. Your opinions matter to us! Have a terrific summer, and happy reading! <p style="text-align: right;">Tonja Randolph President and Publisher, <em>The O&P EDGE</em></p>
<img class="stroke-black-1" style="float: right;" src="https://opedge.com/Content/OldArticles/images/2009-07_13/TRandolph.jpg" alt="Tonja Randolph" width="171" height="210" hspace="4" vspace="4" /> Eight years ago, I joined <a href="https://opedge.dev/3272">classmates.com</a> to "reconnect" with old friends. I paid the annual membership fee, logged on, and instantly became addicted! I had moved around a lot as a kid and found myself thinking of many past acquaintances. I became enthralled with "looking up" old classmates, teachers, and neighbors. I connected with friends I hadn't heard from in years, and I now stay in touch with a few of them. I've even met new people through various online groups. Knowing how compelling online connections have become, we discussed ways to get <em>The O&P EDGE</em> content to even more readers when we launched the new oandp.com this spring. Social networking websites such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn were high on our list. According to a Nielsen report, Facebook, the world's most popular social network, is visited monthly by three in every ten people online across the nine markets in which Nielsen tracks social-networking use. Social-networking platforms provide a forum for meeting like-minded people, as well as a way to spread messages beyond your immediate community. Obviously, many people out there are trying to connect or reconnect, and whether you're new to O&P or have been around it for a long time, there is so much out there to be learned. We decided to set up a page for <em>The O&P EDGE</em> on Facebook. We understand that our readers are busy and may not have time to visit oandp.com every day, so we are providing an additional tool in which to deliver O&P news and information to you. In just over one week, we have attracted nearly 100 fans. Each week, we will post links to several Hot Off the Press news items that we think would most interest the O&P community. What else would you like to see on our Facebook page? Let us know what you think; we greatly appreciate all of your suggestions and comments. <em>The O&P EDGE</em> is also conducting a readership/advertising survey this summer. We spend a lot of time planning each year's editorial coverage and tailoring it to what's hot, new, and exciting in the world of O&P. Receiving feedback from our readers about what you enjoy reading, which departments you read most and are most interested in, if you like our design and creativity, and general suggestions for improvement truly helps us prepare for the upcoming year. Please watch your e-mail inboxes for an invitation to take our ten-minute survey. We will hold a drawing for six $50 Visa gift cards to those who complete our survey. Some questions will be based on advertisements found in this issue. We take our relationships with our readers very seriously. Your opinions matter to us! Have a terrific summer, and happy reading! <p style="text-align: right;">Tonja Randolph President and Publisher, <em>The O&P EDGE</em></p>