Social networking sites – or social media – are defined in the text as “an online community for expanding users' professional or social contacts by establishing connections through their mutual professional or personal relationships.” (Laudon and Laudon, 2010) In more practical terms, I define social media as the use of web tools to share, collect and use knowledge about your business and yourself. The aim of this article is to identify areas where businesses and business professions could make the most of social media for business benefit. The use of social media has grown and Nielsenwire reports that between 2008 and 2009, "overall time spent on social media websites increased by 82%" (Nielsenwire, 2010). Nielsonwire further reports that the top US social media sites in December 2009 were lower than Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, Classmates and LinkedIn. (Nielsenwire, 2010) Neilsonwire states that “social media and blogging are the most popular online category when ranked by average time spent” (Nielsenwire, 2010). Next comes time spent on games and instant messaging. (Nielsenwire, 2010)(Nielsenwire, 2010)A study carried out by pingdom resulted in interesting data on the age of social network users as well as the age distribution on these sites. According to Pingdom, the 35-44 age group represents 25% of social media users. Pingdom states that this group is the "most social" group and is represented by the generation that was "in their 20s when the web took off in the mid-90s." (Royal Pingdom, 2010) Pingdom's calculations yielded the statistics below: The average user of the social network is 37 years old. LinkedIn, with its commercial focus, has a predictably high average user age; 44. The average Twitter user is 39 years old. The...... middle of paper ......f social networking for business, part ii; twitter. Retrieved from http://ipwatchdog.com/2010/04/04/the-importance-of-using-social-networking-for-business-part-ii-twitter/id=9765/(Quinn, 2010)Quinn, R (May 13, 2010). The importance of social networks for businesses, part iii; linkedin chapter 1. Retrieved from http://ipwatchdog.com/2010/05/13/the-importance-of-social-networking-for-business-part-iii-linkedin-chapter-1/id=10525(Quinn, 2010 )Rusli, E. (May 13, 2010). How Facebook and Twitter are changing business models and shaping brand identity. Retrieved from http://techcrunch.com/2010/05/13/how-facebook-and-twitter-are-changing-business-models-shaping-brand-identity-video/(Rusli, 2010)Young, L. ( 2011, February). Sphere of influence - using social media to win the war with skill. HR Professional, 28(2), 28-34.(Young, 2011)