If you haven’t made the move yet, you’re falling behind fast. Social networking websites like Facebook and Twitter are growing rapidly – and this is just the beginning. If you own your own business, youhaveto get on board – now.

How does it all work? What do I do? How do I get started?

Before you run out, sign up and start friending/following every person you can, you should understand how these social networking tools really work. The objective (contrary to popular belief) is not to run out and get as many followers & friends as possible.

But isn’t that what everyone else is doing? Yes – and they are wrong. Here’s why: Creating huge lists of followers and friends with strangers that only follow/friend you back as a courtesy because you did it to them (or vise versa) is a waste of time. You will end up following thousands of people who in turn are also following thousands of people.

The result?

Lots of spam that nobody is listening to. A wast of time and resources. A huge network of people talking – but nobody is listening.

What’s the point? I would rather have 20 followers that are actually interested in my tweets than thousands of followers who are not listening.

Check out Doodlekit’s latest blog post about Using Twitter for Me, Not for You for more information.