How can I be a good listener?

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What can I do to become good at "listening" (in social situations)??

When someone is telling you a long story, every so often nod your head and say..."Oh ok". It makes the person who is talking to you think that you are interested. When I first tried to do this it felt very unnatural but I got used to it after a while, and it's better than being accused of not paying attention constantly.

I remember Johnny Carson's answer when asked what his key was to being such a great talk show host.

He replied that pretty much everyone loves to talk about themselves, so all he had to do was keep the ball rolling as he let his guest go on about what they wanted to talk about.

I see it as the same way with people. To me it's rude that people will love to talk my ear off and not reciprocate towards me, but I accept that is how things are.

I let people talk about themselves, and I keep my mouth shut because I've learned that hardly anyone cares about what I'm interested in.

It's done well to help me fit in better during social situations.

Make it look like your interested in what they are saying. Sometimes, all I have to do is look at them and give them the impression that I'm listening and nod my head and say things like yup.