After reviewing many of these social networking sites, it is obvious that most successful internet marketers are participating in this scene, to some extent. However, a word of warning here...these sites are not meant for blatantly promoting your own website and opportunity. They should be used to exchange ideas and information and to develop relationships with like-minded people.

Every day new social networking sites are being created. However, right now the most popular are Twitter, Facebook and MySpace. A new up-and-coming site is BetterNetworker. The people behind this site are Mike Dillard and Perry Belcher. It is my prediction that by this time next year, BetterNetworker will be receiving a very large piece of the social networking pie.

TWITTER -- This is a micro-blogging service and there is no cost to join. You send messages to other users and these posts are called "tweets". They are only in text form and you are limited to 140 characters per post. This is where you can put your copywriting skills to the test! You can connect your Twitter account to your Facebook account and when you post on one it will appear on the other site also.

FACEBOOK -- It is also a free website that is privately owned and operated by Facebook Inc. Within Facebook you can join networks that are organized by city, workplace, school or region, to connect and interact with others. You can add 'friends' and send them messages. You can also upload pictures and short video. Facebook attracted 132.1 million unique visitors in June, 2008.

MY SPACE -- Once again, another free site with an interactive network of friends, blogs, groups, personal profiles, music, video and photos. My space is international, as are the other social networking sites mentioned here. Back in June of 2006 it was the most popular networking site in the U.S. However, in April, 2008 it was taken over in popularity by Facebook. However, it still attracts approximately 230,000 new users per day.

BETTERNETWORKER -- The latest social networking site is the 'brainchild' of Mike Dillard, the creator of Magnetic Sponsoring and many other popular programs. This site is working very hard to be true to it's purpose and not be a smokescreen for pitching product or service, without contributing something of value to the members. To date, I have seen an impressive exchange of useful information on BetterNetworker and I highly recommend it.

Just a word of caution -- many wasted hours can be spent reading through posts, blogs, watching videos etc. Some people think that by being involved in the social networking sites, they will easily add hundreds, if not thousands, of people to their e-mail list. It just does not happen that way. Building a list is time consuming. However, if done right, social networking can definitely produce great results. For example, a friend of mind who has a very large following on Twitter, sent out a 'tweet' about an opportunity that he recommended. His followers went to the recommended site and within a week my friend had earned over $40,000.00 in affiliate commissions. This was his reward for building a large group of followers who respected, trusted and liked him.

A great percentage of the top producers involved in internet marketing can be found on these social networking sites. One would have to assume that if they are willing to put their time into these sites, then they have to be lucrative in the end. If this is done properly, then it can definitely reap very rich rewards.