Let's do some social networking

A lot of people have made—and lost—a lot of money trying to predict how the Internet will change the way we live and work. The one thing all these prognosticators seem to have gotten right is that the Internet gives us, as individuals, a lot more control over many aspects of our lives.

As consumers we can research virtually any product we want to buy, often getting enough information to make a purchasing decision at home, without having to avoid making eye contact with a single salesperson.

In the workplace, Internet-based applications have made it easier to find and collaborate with new customers and suppliers, which improves our ability to sustain the business relationships that work for us while severing those that don't.

The process of building the right business relationships is a lot like social networking, the latest craze sweeping the Internet. If you're under 35, there's a good chance you have a profile on MySpace, the king of social networking sites, with more than 80 million unique visitors in 2006, according to Nielsen/Net Ratings.

If you're not a MySpace member, you may know that the people who post profiles on MySpace do so in hopes of meeting new "friends" with similar interests. This concept isn't new, and it can be quite useful in the business world.

Philosophers, anthropologists, and sociologists have been studying the concept of social networking since at least the 19th century. As it turns out, the Internet is the perfect vehicle for creating the most effective social networks.

How is that so? Because, according to experts in the field, the most useful social networks are large, open networks. In this context, "open" means populated by individuals who only know one another as members of that particular network.

Smaller, closed networks can acutally stifle the emergence of new ideas because all the members of such networks already tend to think alike.

Think about this: Why do you attend industry conferences, sign up for training, or read magazines like this one? You're seeking knowledge, opinions, and ideas that you may never encounter by interacting solely with the people you work with everyday. The Internet, as the ultimate open network, is an always-open window to potential new ideas—even if all of them are not necessarily good—and this explains the popularity of sites such as MySpace.

This concept of social networking via the Internet is the foundation of the open-source software movement. Programmers like Linus Torvald, founder of Linux, posted their work on the Web for people around the world to examine and improve upon by adding their own unique knowledge.

This year, the editors of Manufacturing Business Technology invite you to engage in a bit of social networking through the magazine's Web site. Over the course of the year, we will unveil a newly designed site, with features we hope will inspire you to interact with us. One such feature is a podcast series in which members of the editorial staff will voice opinions on the latest industry developments. We welcome your thoughts on our opinions. In the end, we hope to create an open network through which you can regularly get new, useful ideas—without dipping into your travel budget.