I’ve come to the realization that in my 25 plus years in the graphics and marketing/advertising world that the more things change, the more things remain the same. We can do so much more now, in less time and for less dollars than we could ever have imagined in the marketing world of yesteryear. However there are basic principles of business that even the “old guys” are finding to be not only acceptable, but vital – and this is regarding the new networking. Again, I’m sounding old, but it wasn’t long ago when designs, contracts, referrals and many facets of business were conducted in a restaurant on a bar napkin! That face-to-face time, along with an extended lunch allowed for enough time to determine the character of someone to see if he or she was worthy to work with. That cocktail napkin is now the blog, being tagged on Facebook, being connected on LinkedIn or any  of many other social marketing sites where we expose ourselves for all to see. Sure some of the initial closeness may be gone, however we can scale our presence to be in front of thousands of people instead of just a few. and those who trust us can stand up for us for all strangers to see and “friend us”, “endorse us” or whatever else is needed to show their vote of confidence. So there is no reason for ANY business or any person not to incorporate social marketing in to their mix of ways to increase exposure.