But right now, I found linked in a more professional and business sounding way of social networking. Less spam, cleaner, direct to the point and simple.

It is great to see somebody else’s view on these matters and I think it is safe to say that most people are quite apprehensive by giving out private info.

I also liked your comparison to the guy in the park as this really drives home the point.

Security IS important, and we’ve become all too trusting in this online world. We would never think of giving our personal information to the guy we meet at the park, yet we freely distribute all over the net. Facebook tells us that they are not responsible for these applications, and we have no idea who is creating them and gathering our information. It’s one thing to give it up for Amazon or other perceived secure site, but quite another to hand our information over to some nameless, faceless application developer. I recognize that most of them are legitimate, but for me, the benefits do not outweigh the risks. Great post!

For me social networking is merely very time consuming and by choosing a couple of sites it has helped me to be more focused on my work.

Twitter is really cool actually. It is a great networking tool that allows you to get to know many bloggers on a more private level.

Like you, I try to stay away from negative people as life is too short to constantly worry. Yet, we mustn’t ignore the bad things by just closing our eyes to them hoping they will go away if we ignore them either.

BTW, this isn’t meant for social networking at all, or the Internet. I love the Internet and all the good things that come with it, which in my eyes are plenty.

If it wasn’t for the net or social networking for that matter I wouldn’t have made as many great friends from all around the world as I have.

I actually discovered Twitter not so long ago and already love it. Although this past week I didn’t participate as I had other priorities, so I will definitely follow you so we can communicate some more.

Anyway, if my post struck a negative chord with you, it wasn’t intended that way and for that I’m also sorry. I realize that while I see something a certain way, others don’t and I can’t blame them for it.

It is the most phenomenal communication tool. But like all things good there are cretins out there to try to ruin it. Don’t keep giving them the satisfaction of knowing that they are getting to people.

To this day I know people even in my own family that will not go on the web because they have heard it is an insecure and bad place to be. Where have they got this from – the media. Huh!

The first time that I came across the networking approach was on a webiste called Ecademy – a business network site. It blew me away and I remember going to a meeting arranged through the site where it was possible to look up all the profiles of the people who were going to be at the meeting. I arrived at a meeting of total strangers but with quite intimate and detailed knowledge of the people I really wanted to do business with. What a fantastic experience.

You can get to know people incredibly well through social networking and rather than the public face you see when you meet someone for the first time in the flesh you can actually get to know a much more important part of the person – their mind.

Let’s sing the praises of Social Networking and find ways to crush those who are out to spoil every party . If it is insecure of course we have to tackle that but not at the expense of the fantastic advances in communication that this brings.

Have a good day Monika – I urge you to look at Twitter if you haven’t done so already – if you follow me I will guide you to some great guys and gals around the web http://www.twitter.com/KeithWatson

I’m also not sure why you say stop moaning as nobody moans except you on the blog post you posted in regards to my post.

I’m actually enjoying life very much, thank you and I certainly have a very positive attitude to life in general.

This post was written for sheer information and nothing else. If you go back and read it, you will actually see that I’m asking you (the reader) for feedback.

Also in the comments I pointed out that I used to join every network I came across before realizing that it was simply too much. Now I happily use two main social networks.

Not sure what this has got to do with moaning at all?

Why this downer on everything!!!

The world is a dangerous place because we have lost our moral way but do you stop going out or living.

Food is bad for you if you abuse it and eat too much.

I have been building websites since 1992 and have heard the negative approach to the Internet in general all along the way. When I was first trying to set up e-commerce sites the banks were hopeless – and kept saying the Internet was insecure and they wouldn’t let merchants trade on-line. That is how WorldPay and PayPal came into being – simply because the banks were too negative.

Yes the internet has a lot of dark sides but you have to learn to use it responsibly like anything else. If I go to London I can choose to go to the Museums and Art Galleries and all the wonderful things that city offers or go to the seedy red light districts. Because the red light districts exist it doesn’t mean I don’t go to London.

Facebook is fantastic if used sensibly. Myspace is not my cup of tea so I don’t join it. Simple isn’t it – there is choice. To dismiss Social Networking out of hand is frankly ……

I will tell you what – I joined Twitter last week and have through that learned more in one week about marketing than from all the nonsense peddled out all the time by the so called gurus of the Internet. Why and how – because I found out straight away who my mentors were going to be on using that technology and followed them. I don’t choose to follow many – but those I do follow are worth their weight in gold.

Please just get out there and find people you respect and learn from them. Social Networking doesn’t mean you have to mix with the devil. When the technology moves on as it surely will move to the next advance. Very stimulating and I love it.

Please just enjoy life – you only live once and stop moaning.

Keith