Everyone is still discussing the hottest topic in the media circuit—social media. As I observe what has happened in this arena in the past year or so, it seems like an explosion has taken place, but has it had positive or negative results, or both?

Many of my friends and co-workers spend hours upon hours in this digital media communication. Businesses have, in most cases, embrace one form or another of social media and seem to be using it primarily for reconnecting, building new connections and for generating opportunities. As a matter of fact, businesses that have not jumped on the social media bandwagon are now viewed as behind the times. Even Facebook, which had a slow start in the business environment has begun to take off, as Facebook traffic has grown exponentially since it launched early 2004. As of last report, there are more than 500 million Facebook users.

As business owners, managers and leaders, what does this phenomenal growth mean for how we communicate with other businesses and our clients? Are we becoming more social beings because of social media? Does this make us better connected? Does it lead to stronger relationships? Will social networking ever really replace tried and true business networking?

Research has recently shown that Twitter, for example, is not a very social network for business folks. After analyzing more than 41 million user profiles, only 22 percent of connections are reciprocal, meaning that 78 percent are one-way relationships.

From my experience, face-to-face encounters still generate the best relationships and are more capable of building loyalty among businesses. Occasionally I hear about companies that discover each other through social media, but much more often, it is face-to-face experiences that lead them to do business together. That’s not to say that you shouldn’t use social media. Just be careful of how much time you spend on one-way communications.

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