It was scary.  Nashville was mobbed by educators from across the country.  As presenter at their conference I was amazed by the slate of Social Networking sessions.  There are thousands of experts who travel the country espousing the correct method to Twitter, Facebook and a host of other sites.  Each tells of how these tools will bring world peace or cure the common cold. 

Problems tend to turn to technology for a fix.  If the horse isn’t fast enough then build the car.  If the saw blade gets dull invent the laser to cut.  The latest invention in the world of webs and electrons is the Web 2.0 – social networking explosion. 

Twitter is growing at up to 1200% a day and Facebook is on track to be the first billion person collection of people who don’t qualify as a country. 

Business is catching the buzz of growth through Web 2.0 and the unemployed are flocking to social networking with the hope of future employment.

The problem is that they just don’t work. 

Tell that to the people who brought us “Will it blend?” videos, or Susan Boyle.  They did OK.  But these are most often the exception.   Don’t get me wrong, I have a Facebook page; I have YouTube videos.  These sites and others establish my place in the world and allow potential customers to go “see if this guy is any good.” 

Let me digress for a moment.  Finding a job for decades has gotten pretty predictable.  You build a resume and “they will come.”  But where 3% to 5% of jobs are found online with resumes and electronic applications; the major portion of jobs are still found through personal connections and relationships.  One estimate puts it at 60% to 80% for finding a job through networking. 

How many hiring executives say to themselves, “I think I will sit down at the computer and just go look for resumes.”   I am sure you have customers who just love to sit down on a weekend and say,”I wonder what ole Kordell is doing this weekend?  Let me go surf his web site.”  NOT!

When you think of these internet sites take a step back and consider their place in the world of television, networking events, trade shows, and thousands of other marketing tools. 

These tools allow the message to get to the customer, but each by itself will not build customer relationships.  That comes through the combination of all of your marketing and business efforts. 

When anyone pays homage to the method of connecting with the customer over the fact that the end game is building a relationship, then red lights need to flash and bells ring.   

So post to Twitter and Facebook (I will when I finish this blog) but then go and make something happen.  You might as well get in a cave and light a candle and wait unless you do some more proactive things to get a job, to grow your business. 

Pick up the phone and call someone.  Go visit a customer.  Your uniqueness will scream out a message that is unique and different.