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If you ask a hundred people why they use social media networks, or even what got them into social media, you’d probably get a hundred different answers. Some SM celebrities like LisaNova enjoy the attention and boundless audience available at their fingertips. Others, like Zappos CEO Tony, use their networks as a valuable business tool to foster a relationship with current and potential customers. Still others use social media to disseminate useful tips and tricks on everything from the latest tech toys to top-rated recipes.

And then there are the rest of us. Those who use SM for business purposes or to find useful information once in a while, but generally don’t glean any actual value from it – at least according to many SM evangelists out there. As far as I’m concerned, though, it’s this type of user who often finds true value from their networks. This type of user typically uses their networks either as a way to connect with those they already know or to make new connections they might never have had outside this medium. They may not gain value in the form of reputation or business or profit; their value comes through enhancing their interpersonal relationships.

Let’s take me, for example. I’ve been involved in social media for years. In fact, when I joined my first network no one had ever heard of “social media.” My network was simply a way to keep in touch with those friends of mine who moved away after high school without running up exorbitant phone bills, as well as making some new friends along the way. For me, the “value add” was the ability to share my thoughts and ideas with those friends and anyone else who might be interested across the network. It gave me a window out of my small-town world and insight into interaction with people from diverse backgrounds. This insight  eventually proved to be invaluable to me professionally (but that’s a topic for another blog). The most important factor for me – then and now – is people.

I’ll admit, with the meteoric rise of Twitter, Plurk, Facebook, et al., my networking habits have evolved. I’ve made an effort to “brand” myself across the networks, to make myself easy to identify on multiple popular sites. For me, though, it’s more of a personal branding than a business one. I want people to easily be able to find and connect with me in the hopes that we can exchange thoughts, ideas, maybe even a Thai recipe or two. The free exchange of ideas and information are what “they” told us the internet was all about – now social media and web 2.0 are showing us all what that really means. And everyone, from home users to notable SM’ers to business networkers, would do well to remember that relationships are at the root of it all.

*Merriam Webster defines sociality as “the tendency to associate in or form social groups”