It is very apparent that social networking has become deeply entrenched in our everyday lives.

Facebook has over 750 million active users across the world and people spend over 700 billion minutes per month on the site, according to Facebook.com. Eighty percent of companies use social networking sites for recruitment, according to socialnomics.net. Even Stanford University offers a Virtual Communities and Social Media class, according to the university’s website.

But for some, the likes of Facebook, Tumblr and Twitter become an addictive, time consuming habit that commands daily life. The reasons abound as to why: it is easy to contact people online, easy to see what they’re up to and easy to express your personal opinions.

For these people, the use of social networking sites can become detrimental. However, for those who use it to enhance the effectiveness of communication, it can be a powerful tool that helps the user stay connected and speed up the travel of important information.

The ease of spreading information is the reason that social networking isn’t taking anything away from concrete human interaction, but is merely an aid to make communication easier and more efficient when direct interaction is not an option.

Most do not have the time to meet personally with everyone they know in a day, but the existence of social networks makes it possible to remain in contact with the important people and things in their lives, while being able to perform the duties they must be in person for.

Social networking also enables the user to stay up to date on current news and information. Most news organizations and companies have their own social networking pages where you are able to instantly receive the most current information available.

It is true that much of what is found online can be useless tripe, but if you can sift through the nonsense you may find valuable and engaging information and then be able to share it, through the various sites, with those who can also make use of it.

The 1800s brought the inventions of the the telegraph and the telephone to speed communication. Social networking is just the next evolution in an ever advancing field of technology and, when used correctly, can be a gateway to incredibly useful information. At the least, it can make it easier for you to find out where your friend’s next party will be.