Times Are Good - For Social Networks

FT.com - Professional networks surge in popularity

The following article talks about just how good social networking sites are doing despite the tumultuous economic times we're living in right now. In fact, professional networks such as LinkedIn and Xing, are thriving as the markets turn worse. LinkedIn has a new member join every second. The network is now over 30 million strong, and the sites traffic is growing at a rate of 123% year on year.

Sounds right to me. As the economy continues to turn south and people lose their jobs (see nonfarm payrolls down 533,000 jobs during November '08 and unemployment up to 6.7%), more individuals are joining these professional and social networks in order to find jobs. Even those who are still employed are joining and updating their information as they worry about their own job security. The network effects are certainly at play here. The more people that are in these networks and the more people that are looking for jobs, the more valuable these networks become.

What I'll be interested to follow and learn is whether these social networks will actually help bring us out of a recession faster. Supposedly, these networks help people find jobs, and there are thousands of examples of exactly that happening. But the sites are not creating jobs themselves. Are these networks going to add to the rifts between the upper, middle, and lower classes of society? Are these networks merely making it easier for the "haves" to find jobs and leaving the "have-nots" out in the dark?

Seems to me like the safe thing to do is to join lest be left behind.