Newsgroups may still be one of the mysteries left to solve based on the sheer number of groups (30,000+), daily messages (more than 1 million each day) and how a group benefits you firm or business.

Those who think Newsgroups are simply a source of the latest gossip are wrong; they can a powerful ally in business, especially for owners and partners who seek credible resources and information.

Finding the appropriate newsgroup(s) and figuring out how to use them to your advantage is the challenge. Most specialize by subject, but where do you begin and what do you say? Here are three suggestions:

• spend time on browsers where you can register your preferences and even set up personalized pages. An example is deja.com;
• try to subscribe to a minimal number of newsgroups, otherwise, your mailbox will be jammed with multitudes of messages; and
• keep your newsgroups messages short and to the point; you'll find that your results will be more pointed on questions and responses if you keep your messages short and to the subject.