The proliferation of online tools, social networking sites, and Web markets has created a lot of opportunities – and revenue streams – for writers. But along with the possibilities may come some confusion. Do you need a website? What is Twitter? What’s the difference between a blog and a vlog? Why do writers need Facebook?

On September 6, Shashi will be on a panel in the second morning session of an all day seminar on some of the most popular and writer-friendly Web tools to help you find new work, promote your services, sell your book, and build your platform.

His session in particular is as follows:

Second Session, 10:30-11:45 a.m. — Social Networking and Social Media: How to Pump Up Your Marketing Efforts and Get the Most Out of Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and More

You know you’re supposed to use all this social media stuff, but how? And for the love of everything writerly, WHY? This panel of social networking and social media experts will give you the basics behind this phenomenon, share examples of success stories, and help you figure out where to leave your social thumbprint.

Shashi Bellamkonda (http://www.shashi.name/)

Monte Lutz (http://www.edelmandigital.com)

Alexandra Rampy (http://fly4change.wordpress.com/)

For the full schedule, head over to the InkThinker blog.

It is located at the Research Building, Room No. 163 George Mason University (Web site at www.gmu.edu) 4400 University Drive Fairfax, VA 22030.

Member cost is $89, non-member cost is $129, and student cost is $49. To RSVP, call (202) 775-5150, send an e-mail to rsvp@washwriter.org, or register online at www.aiwriter.org. Please mention the event for which you are responding and your membership status.