Social Networking - It's like living in a global Mayberry RFD

LinkedIn, Plaxo, Tweeter, Facebook, Myspace, etc., etc.
I've been working on a freelance story about blogging this week. The experts I spoke with say that while blogging remains important, the newest trend among progressive PR and marketing peeps are the social networking sites.
OK. Whatever. I know these sites.
I was told by my own personal social networking maharishi guru: my 20-year-old daughter, "Just start someplace... you'll figure it out." Then she sidebarred, "Just don't build yourself a Myspace page, Dad. Forty-five-year-old men on Myspace are... uh... creepy."
OK... since there are about a trillion social networking sites out there, I looked into it.
I now am a member of LinkedIn. This is a valuable tool that I use in my ongoing quest for gainful employment. I think I have amassed as many as 20 connections so far! LinkedIn is social networking for professionals, we can leave recommendations, join industry specific groups and enter into engaging dialogue forums, but in itself it serves minimal function to social network marketing.
Okay, I digress. Here is what my slowly growing experience and extensive research in using social media has taught me.
In order to crack into the PR bennies of social networking websites, one has to engage in forums and chats, yet be a "listener". Listen to what the networkers are saying... even if the conversations are seemingly irrelevant and going nowhere. These people work hard to be heard and opinion leaders emerge. Identify with them and build relationships with them. Make comments only when they are relevant and will enhance the current conversation. Never EVER incite these people. They will turn on you like a pack of Shih Tzus hyped up on Sobe and Snickers.
Be true to who you are at all times. Any untruths will snowball and bury you in the end.
Start your own personal blog and brand yourself. This is your communications brand.
Communicate often. Don't try to control it. Let your network grow. Join others when invited and invite everyone else in. Get a sense of humor... not like offensive Comedy Central roast stuff, just simple humor.
Your goal is maximizing eyeballs. Get read. Get connected. Stay true to your brand.
Snailmail is to email like email is to social media. Email is so yesterday, social media is already more popular. Twitter is the breaking news of today.
Social media creates a sense of community. It is the Mayberry RFD of the digital age.
If you grew up in a small town, you already know the skills necessary to be successful at social networking.
You have integrity.
You are proud of your neighborhood and want to keep it looking nice.
You want your neighbors homes to look nice too.
You know that talking across the back fence is better than on the phone.
Backdoor friends are better than doorbell friends.
Everyone is held accountable, but if you fall into hard times and fail at something your neighbors will forgive you.
You all root for the same team: the home team.
When you live in a small town, you learn that a roll of wire, a working lawnmower or a six pack of microbrew has much more value than a manicure or a treatment of Botox. Why? Because you can loan someone your lawnmower, borrow a length of wire to fix the gate with and share a six pack of brew.
Social networking is exactly the same. Bring something to the conversations that others can use. Show your expertise where you can. But remember, others have their own fields of expertise and sometimes they overlap with yours.
Follow everyone who follows you and then some. Read their twitter tweets, comment on their blogs. Be respectful and embrace the transparency of it all.
Absorb and consume.
It will take time to build followers, contacts and friends, but be patient. Soon, you will be sucked into the mad, mad, mad, mad, mad world of social networking and, hopefully, if you're doing it right, you will be marketing to people without even realizing it.