Social networking is a trend which has really exploded in the last year. In addition to business-oriented sites like LinkedIn, micro-blogging tools like Twitter, and one-size-fits-all sites like Facebook and Plaxo, there are lots of new sites dedicated to specific industries or other special interest groups. For many of us, it’s an ongoing challenge deciding what sites to join and in what ways we will participate.

I belong to the four sites mentioned above, and maybe some others where I’m not at all active. I also have a folder in Outlook of invitations I’ve received to join other sites, which I haven’t had a chance to check out. Before I consider signing up for any more sites, I wanted to think about how I’m using my current memberships.

I’ve noticed that I’m connected to a lot of the same people on multiple sites. Since many of them post the same updates on all sites, either manually or using a tool like Ping.fm, I find I’m receiving the same information over and over. If it wasn’t terribly interesting the first time, it’s even less so by the second or third time I see it.

I think LinkedIn is an amazing site and know I’m not using it to its full potential. I only log into Plaxo occasionally to deal with connection requests and to quickly scan my news feed. Little benefit, but little effort.

No matter how busy I am, I log into Facebook nearly every day. I don’t usually spend a lot of time there, but I like to see what’s going on. To me it’s the virtual worker’s equivalent of gathering at the coffee machine; it’s a chance to find out what people are up to, to see their latest photos, and so on. It’s a fun diversion, but also a way of staying in touch with my network and of connecting with new people.

As to Twitter, I’m still on the fence about that one. This is another tool that I’m probably not using to its full potential, but I’m not convinced it is worth my time. In other blogs, I’ve read things implying that if someone follows you, it’s very selfish not to follow them back. I think that’s absurd. What if you have a really high profile resulting in hundreds of followers. You could do the “right thing” and add them all to your follow list, but you’d then have so many things in your feed that you’d never be able to actually follow any of them. One of the things I like about Twitter is that people who want to use it to find out when I’ve posted to my blog or have an announcement can do so, without us having to go through the motions of becoming “friends.”

Feel free to connect with me on any of the above sites, but be aware that if you don’t introduce yourself, I may not accept.

What are your favourite networking sites? How do you use them?