Despite its now rampant popularity across the internet you still may not at this point have heard of the term “Social Networking" in relation to the internet. Social Networking refers to the development and then utilization of an online community website for the purposes of meeting other people. This type of website began with friendship type networks like the now billion dollar “Myspace" but it was only a matter of time before it was adapted to a group of people who could benefit from this phenomenon perhaps more than any other: Business people. This article will explore the benefits of what is called BUSINESS TO BUSINESS Social Networking.

Web 2.0 BUSINESS TO BUSINESS Social Networking sites operate by a business registering an account with the home website that is usually free and then gaining the ability to create a profile about their business that is publicly viewable over the internet. They then become part of a community of other business

owners who have also created profiles, and can meet and interact with these people in various ways such as email, instant messaging, chat, forums and more.

The idea of BUSINESS TO BUSINESS Social Networking is for the business owner to meet as many other likeminded individuals as possible in order to leverage knowledge and information as well as in some cases ideas or even customers in a community environment.

The benefits of BUSINESS TO BUSINESS Social Networking for business owners are many. The first benefit is the ability to gain free advertising for their business and mission on the internet. Most small businesses pay large amounts of money to get the right people to see their advertisements and while BUSINESS TO BUSINESS Social Networking won’t replace this it does provide another viable option by which to generate leads and increase exposure to their business. Of course this is particularly relevant for those businesses who offer products or services to other business (ie BUSINESS TO BUSINESS products) and for them it creates a virtual marketplace and as such a wealth of opportunity.

The main benefit of Web 2.0 BUSINESS TO BUSINESS Social Networking however is the people factor. Some people still believe that “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know" and so the ability to meet large numbers of business people particularly that share the same geographical location can be highly valuable. It can give business owners the ability to share skills, connect each other to better ways of operating and introduce one another to people or methods that can help increase profits. For example you might run a shop and be able to find out through networking with other shop owners in your area what is the cheapest place to buy certain stock.

As you can see, if you own any kind of business there are definite advantages to participating in the new craze of BUSINESS TO BUSINESS Social Networking. In business any small advantage you can get is important, and BUSINESS TO BUSINESS Social Networking is one that for many businesses is providing an advantage that is anything but small.