Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, StockTwits, LinkedIn. These are social networks. They exist to connect people together based on friendship, business connections or similar interests and they are here to stay, folks. Some are mistakenly calling this “Social Media” but that’s a misnomer.

As explained in this post, Social Media is a contradiction in terms. Media by its nature can’t be social if it can’t be controlled by a single source. That being said, social networking in all forms is here to stay. Read this post by Howard Lindzon, creator of StockTwits and the wildly popular internet stock show Wall Strip.

Howard states, “I don’t think you can set out to build a community. I think the best communities just happen.” and he’s right. The best, most creative and interesting communities stem from a common understanding or goal and happen out of necessity. Birds of a feather, if you will, flock together.

I use social networks to communicate to my friends, family and twitter followers the things I am doing or want them to know about. By keeping them in the loop, they can pass that word on and do more than I can do on my own to get my information out there. This is what I love about blogging and the internet. What you have to say is always going to be interesting to someone, even when you think it isn’t.

One of my friends, who is very cynical (and 10 years younger than me) told me one day that Twitter is a fad. I had to wholeheartedly disagree with him. That’s like saying Craigslist or Ebay are fads, implying that eventually they will stop being used and disappear into the ether. I assure you, he is dead wrong.

Twitter is being used for much more than just a venting ground in 140 characters or less. Real information is being exchanged thorough Twitter, gathered, disseminated and used for business purposes. I get more interesting information from the folks I follow on Twitter than almost anywhere else on the web. It’s a powerful platform when leveraged correctly.

StockTwits is a perfect example. Users post short messages about the stocks they are trading or about other trading information and by using a specific symbol (the $ in this case) before a symbol, the StockTwits engine will pick up the feed from twitter and add it to its own feed. This kind of intentional aggregation has created a community that is going to flourish and profit.

So next time someone tells you social networking is a fad, you can put them in their place and let them know that there’s much more to it than just 140 characters.

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