If you ask a room full of people to define social networking, you will likely get several different answers.
The meaning of the term has changed over time.
Today's social networking is not the same phenomenon as the networking of only a few years ago.
In years past, social networking meant to meet other people face-to-face and interact.
That is no longer the case.
Today, networking simply refers to the practice of gathering people together into specific groups.
The Internet has made this shift inevitable.
Networking has become very popular among Internet users.
It is one of the most common online activities, and is used for many purposes including finding a romantic partner, staying in touch with family and friends, and schmoozing with colleagues.
Thanks to the Internet, we now have the ability to be together in groups without having to be together in person.
The Internet has made the miles that divide us less of an impediment.
Among professionals on the Internet, the social networking sites Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook are popular.
Networking on the Internet is popular with and beneficial for professionals in all fields.
Business use of social networking is a wise investment of time.
Studies show that using the Internet in this way helps with finding vendors and manufacturers, making sales, and hiring employees.
For diversity and sheer volume, few sites can rival LinkedIn.
LinkedIn was officially launched in 2003, and in the ensuing years has become a global network of more than 50 million users.
Facebook was begun originally as a social networking site for college students.
However, it has since branched out to be one of the most popular and widely used sites on the Internet.
More than 150 million users have Facebook accounts.
Of this number, fully half are on the site daily.
The age of users has also shifted from its college-centered beginning - use among Americans age 35 and older has doubled in a matter of just a few months.
Twitter is less popular than Facebook or LinkedIn, but is gaining users and reaches an estimated 4.
1 users monthly.
Compared to other networking sites, Twitter users are more likely to be female, highly educated, and technologically savvy than are the users of other networking sites.