Unless you've been living under a rock then it only goes to say that you are aware of the latest craze of Social networking.
We have Twitter, Facebook, Bebo, MySpace, blogging and a plethora of fresh social networking sites are on the increase.
People desire to be connected and the speed at which we are moving in to stay connected is Scary at times, how can you keep up? But more importantly,do social  sites turn you into a less productive small business owner? The main point to be aware of is these sites shouldn't be looked at as a negative entity.
As smart and savvy business owners it is up to us to keep up with the latest trends of internet business and to learn how to use it to our advantage.
However my motto is to always keep it simple.
However, can too much of a good thing be too much? Can it lead to a negative outcome, such as not making the best application of our time.
If you'd like to apply social networking in your marketing mix but are concerned about the time issues associated with it, here are a a small number of useful tips: Know your goal.
Before you get on track ask yourself , what would I like to attain from this?  Do I want to gain more clients or customers? Do I want to only have a little fun and hook up with friends and business contacts? It' s vital to know your goals with this form of media since this will help you put the complete idea into perspective.

• If your goal is to acquire more clients, then you will  need to look at your social networking time as an investment and track the outcome.
  If you merely want to take part in a little fun, then it's something you can accomplish without worries when you've finished your business tasks for the day.
  
• Set a reasonable and achievable schedule.
  Settle on to a fixed schedule each day, say 15 or 30 minutes  that you dedicate to social networking.
  Try to stick to the same schedule each time.
  This way you obtain your dose of social networking without it overtaking your business or life.
  The schedule ought to be special to you and you might find that 30 minutes is a little or too much, but whatever the schedule ensure you stick to it.
  
• Don't fit in too much too soon.
  Trying to be involved with all aspects of social networking can seem a little daunting, even scary (and time consuming).
  As an alternative, investigate and discover one or two methods you really like and that seem to work for your small business needs.
  After that stick to those methods for a while until you're certain you can deal with more.
  
• Prioritize, Unless you've proven that social networking is a large part of your overall small business plan and success, it might make sense to prioritize your main (ie.
  Money-making, customer retention) tasks to start with.
  After you've done the activities for the day that you feel will help your business succeed, in that case you can move on to your social networking time.
  

It's all too simple to get jammed up in this form of a  networking time stealer.
That's why all of the steps above work together.
If you don't know your goals with social networking, it's easy to fritter away time, and you also won't know where your priorities should be.
And if you carry out too much too soon it's easy to not stick to your schedule and use up too much time on social networking sites.
Utilize the tips listed at this time as a starting position to where you plan to go with this up-to-the-minute media.
Then set yourself a schedule and stick to it.
Remember you're in control and you don't need to get carried away with social networking, unless you'd like to, of course.