By Sasha Gonzales

Online social media is a godsend. It's the best way to keep in touch with people overseas, stay on top of what's happening in your friends' lives, reconnect with old classmates, and share photos, videos and personal information.

In fact, blogs and social media sites have become such an integral part of our personal life we've even started using them for work. So how can we use these tools to our best advantage?

Getting and staying connected

Building relationships - that's what online social media is really about, says Angela Spaxman, a Hong Kong-based career and executive coach from Loving Your Work, a company that helps managers and professionals find career fulfilment and success.

"People can use online social media to meet and build relationships with others who could be potential employers, or who can give them inside information about what it's like to work in different companies or industries," Angela says.

"Linkedin, for example, works particularly well for this - you can search for very specific connections (by city, industry, company etc), and be introduced through mutual contacts. You can also do something similar on Facebook."