Shhhh ... Don't tell anyone, but I'm going to share a secret with you.

Over 95% of the professionals on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, or any other Social Media site you can name are INEFFECTIVE!

The reason they are ineffective: they don't engage their connections!

There is a mistaken belief that all you must do to be an effective networker is add names. However, that does not make you an effective networker; what it does make you is an effective collector.

Ask yourself these questions:

1. How many boxes do I have filled with business cards?
2. How long has it been since I last looked at those cards?
3. How many cards do I have that I don't remember?
4. In those boxes could I find what I want?
5. How long would it take to locate my 50 most influential connections?
6. How many cards current contact information?

Most people have several containers.
Most have not looked at them for months; even years.
Most cannot answer the questions posed above.
And if they can answer the questions...
Much of the information is out of date.

These individuals are collectors; not connectors! They are stuck in the past and continue to look at today's networking tools, if they even use them, in the same way they looked at yesterday's Rolodex. To them it is simply a collection of names versus the opportunity to connect.

Networking is about connecting. Networking is about each party adding value to the other.

When some hear that networking is about adding value they become scared that networking will take an inordinate amount of time and no certainty as to a return on the investment.

Neither of these could be further from the truth. Networking, done properly with today's Social Media tools, can be accomplished with a minimal investment of time and effort.

As to the return on investment; there may not be an immediate payback, but the payback will come because of the value that you are adding. Value added does not go unrewarded.

The following is an interesting story about Michelle's success using LinkedIn.

Michelle specializes in helping organizations plan for the unexpected. She is a disaster planning specialist. When she started her new job, she wanted to capitalize on her knowledge of disaster planning and searched for the position that would enable her to do that.

She found that opportunity and a couple of years after accepting the position she started her Social Media efforts. She created a LinkedIn profile, joined groups, and started participating.

All of these efforts were designed to demonstrate her expertise and add value to those that were reading her information.

Jump ahead a few years and one-year ago this past April; Michelle received the telephone call she had been expecting. It came from British Petroleum. One of her group members worked for BP and as you know they had a huge problem on the Gulf Coast and they needed someone that could help them secure the hotel accomodations along the entire gulf coast for their employees, consultants, etc.

Thousands of rooom nights where Michelle would receive a small commission on each one. That's the way Google made their money; a nickel at a time.