Though we have discussed what social networking is, what exactly is the networking portion, and what purpose does it serve?

The picture to the right is an image I took using a Facebook application called Nexus.  Each dot in the picture represents one of my “friends” on the popular social networking site, and each line represents one person being friended to another besides myself.  As you can see, some people are connected to many others, while some have no other connections.  This doesn’t necessarily mean they have no other friends, we just don’t have any others in common with one another.

While all of this is great, the question becomes what you do with your “network”?  While some social sites such as LinkedIn promote the professional aspect of networking, most of them are merely about connecting with old friends, or people you currently work with.   It can be useful for self-promotion, such as with your own blog, or other personal type project, but for work advancement, it is not perfected yet.

How to expand this into something meaningful, or new leads for work or advancement… well, that’s still trying to be worked out.  Until then, enjoy catching up with your friends and family… and charts with dots and lines!