Social networking is one of those things that everyone says is great for small business—but no one really knows anyone who's actually done anything really awesome with it. While there's a slew of sites that offer assistance specifically for entrepreneurs and business people—think Facebook's Small Business Network and LinkedIn—it strikes us that the sites are still primarily useful for finding old friends and stalking exes. That's why we decided to ask you, our readers, whether social networking has done anything for your small business or you professionally for this week's survey question.

While some of the geekier entrepreneurs out there may have successfully used social networking to your advantage in business, we couldn't find them. In fact, the response from you wasn't especially positive. Reader Jessica gave it to us straight:

"I have a facebook account and it has never once helped me professionally and I doubt that it ever will...Call me old-fashioned, but I think it's who you are personally connected to (as in they have spoken with you, respect you, know more about you than what you disclose in your 'profile,' or knows someone else who can vouch for your great character)in life that gets you ahead professionally."

So, maybe trying to friend a VC on Facebook isn't the best way to "introduce" yourself. Or at least that's what reader benpirie thinks:

"I try to avoid tainting my professional life with social networking sites. I think this is an area where everyone wants it to work, and there's certainly potential, but no one wants to put themselves out as an early adopter while there's still the MySpace stigma. Even once it does catch on, I don't think it's going to supplant the handshake as the gold standard of relationship building. For both traditional and practical reasons, there's no electronic substitute for looking someone in the eye to get the measure of them."

Please voice all dissent in the comments section below.

(Image via BobsBrainDump)