Each new Internet technology begins with a golden age of innocence, a utopia that is shattered once the 'heavies' from sales get hold of it. Just like telephone sales calls and spam, the abuse of the new medium escalates until there is a mass outcry, leading to some old-fashioned legislation.

Those that hype social networking as the powerful new way of marketing often underestimate the subtlety required, as well as mixing up several separate phenomena. This is dangerous. Blatant sales campaigns run counter to the important social networking principle of building social capital and may destroy your reputation or brand overnight. You run the risk of your communication being blocked by recipients, something that is mercifully easier on social networking sites than the telephone or email. You may also end up with internal battles; for at the same time as the people in jeans are declaring a new and open world, free of regulation, the people in suits are sucking their teeth and shaking their heads at the suggestion of a virtual Wild West, where every employee is making representations on behalf of the company. So who is right?

What is social networking then?

If you look at social networking sites like Facebook and LinkedIn, they are fundamentally based on people maintaining and operating their existing social networks through publishing their profile and linking to associates. Users are able to keep in touch with their network and to share things – photographs, videos, things they like, things they don't like. The more famous or verbose will share their thoughts via blogs, including the micro-blogging service, Twitter.

The key dynamic is that people are sharing and interacting with other people that they already know in a way that is personal rather than corporate. These are real people, warts and all. This style is a world away from the gloss of printed literature and web sites. It requires an entirely different mentality than the 'push' tradition. Companies that produce automated corporate tweets every 15 minutes have not only missed the point but will annoy their intended audience.

Many online marketing strategies are based on traditional short-term campaigns that don't fit with the social networking paradigm of an enduring presence. Sustainability is a resource intensive requirement. Failure to see initiatives through can be seen in the hundreds of thousands of orphan blogs that were started during the ‘blog boom’, but ended after a half-dozen postings. In times past, few people wrote up diaries because it is a daily chore. Blogging is no different.

What is not social networking?

If you form or join a 'group' on a social networking site, then you are moving into a different phenomenon; that of the community. Communities can form in many ways, around any topic, but tend to fall into two categories: Communities of Practice, where the members are very similar people in that they perform the same roles; and Communities of Interest, where the members may be dissimilar but share a common interest. A community of doctors would be a community of practice, sharing experiences from their working lives, whereas a diabetes group might include patients and carers as well as doctors, researchers, and health managers in a community of interest.

Given that they exist, participation in online communities could be essential to defend your organisation from false accusation and misconceptions. In the same way, monitoring discussion fora and blog posts can provide the 'listening ear' that will sensitise you to customer needs and opinions more richly than market research surveys. This protective stance extends to educating your staff in the behaviour and language so that they understand the pitfalls and are armed with intelligent approaches to issues. Social networking, blogging, Twitter and so on are personal media rather than corporate.

Involving your customers and suppliers in online communities that you run can be a rewarding experience if it is managed well. The new ideas of Open Innovation and Crowd Sourcing offer genuinely new ways for organisations to develop, but the opportunities come with the attendant threats. A less obvious opportunity is internal social networking. Staff profiles of expertise and small, voluntary communities of practice linking those who perform the same roles can build into a valuable, efficient, and permanent knowledge management system.

What should I do?

Overall, the best approach is to thoughtfully select and blend your online activities so that they reflect your organisation. Doing something because it is the latest, or the media hype machine claims everyone is doing it, is not good management. The duality of having a pompous web site while trying to be hip and cool on Facebook breaks the age-old principles of branding and identity. A holistic approach is best, and if social networking fits your style then you can use it to good effect. You can make a commitment to learn how to do it well and to train and manage staff so that they are happy and comfortable in this new medium.

Social networking and the social mechanisms that surround it are a great opportunity for businesses and organisations. Just don't forget that they require boring old-fashioned management.

Neil Rathbone is a boring old-fashioned management consultant in new web technologies.