Social networks are just methods to reach out and speak and listen. They are a way of describing systems composed of multiple elements that are related in some way. Getting involved with social networks online is a terrific way to meet new people and clients. They also tend to be more viral, at least on some social networks. Even though the most common use is between people, social networks are not limited to people.

Facebook

Facebook is the “in” socnet of the moment among the digerati, who will most likely abandon it a few weeks from now. Facebook is problematic for other social networks because apps give them a huge advantage over most of them. For those with little time, sites like Facebook and MySpace can be too time consuming to become involved on a regular basis. Browse through Facebook and you’ll rapidly begin to notice that it resembles a phone book in the way that you can search through your “friends” and view all of their contact information. If Facebook is going to stay on top, they have to continue with their current model of adding new stuff all the time, otherwise people start looking for the next new thing on the web.

Networking

More than one-half of adults between the ages of 18-65 surveyed in 17 countries do not know what social networking is, according to Synovate. Some of what they found was more than a third of social networkers say they are losing interest in social media. And many people do not even know what it is. Across the 17 markets surveyed, 42% of people know what online social networking is, which leaves 58% in the dark... either saying 'no' or 'don't know'.

Marketing

It also stands to reason that today’s large nets will evolve into niche social networks. It's almost as if the users, quite literally, rewrite the business models and marketing plans with the operators' unspoken consent under the best of circumstances. With social-network-based advertisements offering a return on investment that exceeds that of the average online advertising campaign and the overall average of televised ad-campaigns, there is no reason why you shouldn't have a social-networking-based marketing strategy. There's been an interesting debate taking place around the nonprofit blogosphere lately about the role social networking web sites should play in nonprofit marketing. Michael Gilbert warns nonprofits not to become leeches that treat social networking sites as merely another revenue stream.

The fastest growing demographic on social networks are moms between 35 and 45 years old. Women tend to enjoy casual games more and most social networks are essentially a huge casual games network. The good social networks are the ones which are "social" to one another. How many social networks are you ACTIVE on?

Kerry Johnson is site of Online Business Opportunities and ideas. Get his free downloadable book Co-op Marketing the business model for the 21st century.