I wanted to share some of the interesting statistics I came across over the past week while preparing for my “7 minute presentation”. I don’t want to give too much away as I will be coming to a ReferralWeb chapter near you shortly and also doing a longer presentation as part of the ReferralWeb seminar series in April.

Did you know…

- that only 8% of adults were using a social network in 2005.
- that same number has QUADRUPLED since then with 35% of adults on a social network by December 2008.
- 75% of people ages 18-24 are online with a social network profile. Is that a key demographic to your customer / consumer base?

The point here is that more and more people are using social networking tools like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and now NING (like right now – see the top left corner?) to connect and collaborate. People aren’t just reaching out to just high school friends, college roommates and co-workers however. Close to 30% of people are now using social networks to make and maintain business contacts. At only 30%, that number is gonna grow – and grow quickly – and with the Internet, there is room for everyone.

Think to yourself how it can tie into what you are doing and make the commitment to see how you can strengthen your business networking and influence by using social networking sites.