The Value of Networking

Years ago, if you had asked someone what they thought of 'social networking', they would have looked at you as if you had two heads. However, nowadays, social networking is almost as common as exchanging a 'hello' between two people. Everyone knows what it means, and almost everyone you see is involved in online social networking in some way, shape, or form.

From Twitter to Facebook; from Friendster to Myspace, the list of onlins social networks and microblogs stretches from here to the other side of the world and back, and what's more; everyone has their favorite. I can remember back when I joined Twitter for the first time just over a year ago. I pretty much set up my profile and let it sit for a few months. However, I later came back to it and started putting a little effort into it. Twitter's interface wasn't quite as flexible as a Myspace page, but it's ease and simplicity were appreciated nonetheless. Before long, Twitter seemed to explode overnight. I remember thinking to myself, "How ironic is it that I came back to Twitter and started doing something with it, and now this happens!"

Celebrities such as Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore to popular News anchors and news networks such as CNN and Fox News were all atwitter. It was all that you could do to stay off of this hot social networking/microblogging service. Today, Twitter is still incredibly (and increasingly) popular. I credit this, again, to the fact that it is extremely easy to use and even easier to understand. I have no doubt in my mind that I could teach my grandmother how to use this microblogging service in one try!

Networking is important for a number of reasons. Obviously, the number one driving force seems to be utilizing networking for business prospects. This gives credit to the fact that we, collectively, still consider word-of-mouth and face-to-face greetings important human social interactions. I say this because despite the fact that many people use social networking services to add value to their business and create a presence in online media; ultimately (just like the Kevin Bacon game), everything leads back to human interaction in the physical being. The customer who puts out a ' 'tweet' about the excellent customer service that a particular company paid them gets major kudos because there's a good chance that someone else will see that tweet and tell a friend. Then that friend will find themselves talking about some random topic one day to someone else in which the perfect opportunity arises for a company plug- and before you know it, someone is walking into a store that they would have never, otherwise, heard of had it not been for a 140 character micro review of a personal experience.

There is no doubt in my mind that social networking ads value to both business and personal ventures. Why, just look at how the dating scene has evolved! From meeting people through friends to now meeting people through online connections- one of my former friends just married her long time boyfriend of seven years whom she originally met on an online dating service. It seems that social networking has become somewhat of a mainstay, and one that will certainly enrich our lives.