One of the innovations in the Internet space is social networking. Managers are taking a fresh view on its scope for marketing communication and positioning to selling. For Indian managers, is this the right time to get onto the social networking bandwagon?

After the dotcom bust, many managers gave up on the Internet. Although Google is successful and the echoes of a delighted Yahoo user's are heard at times, a business manager is the most unlikely face in that Internet loving crowd. Selling or for that matter doing or improving business through Internet has few followers in spite of the e-commerce buzz. E-bay dazzles, but only with a changed business model where it is more of a virtual hypermarket than a crafty electronics seller. Today, however, some new innovations on the Internet space are making managers give it a relook. One of them is social networking.

The term social network was first coined by JA Barnes in his 1954 classic, Class and Committees in a Norwegian Island Parish. It generally denotes "a map of the relationships between individuals, indicating the ways in which they are connected through various social familiarities ranging from casual acquaintance to close familial bonds." Management science research has long studied to understand social networks mainly in the area of organizational behavior and human resource management. Borrowing heavily from studies in sociology and anthropology, works by the likes of Maslow focused on the formation of groups and human behavior in organizational settings. The Internet has given a new twist to social networks. Time-constrained citizens are becoming social "netizens" with a vengeance. Relationships are sought (or bought for a membership fee) online from like-minded persons across the globe. We call these as social networking sites.

In 2007, US companies are estimated to be spending $900 mn on advertising on social networks alone. The pattern and trend is catching up with the rest of the world too. The most popular of them is MySpace (www.myspace.com), boasting a subscription of more than 160 million users. Unlike a traditional website or an e-mail service, these sites resemble a real-life club. People can look for different clubs and join one or more depending on their affiliations. People look for relationships in these sites rather than pure information or plain vanilla communication.

Marketing Mastermind Magazine, Marketing to Social Networks, Marketing Communication, E-commerce, Human Resource Management, Organizational Behavior, Management Science, Social Networking Sites, Social Network Analysis, Fast Moving Consumer Goods, FMCG, Marketing Strategy.