Driving in my car today, in what turned out to be a drive down nostalgia lane. I'd hit THAT radio station, you know the one which somehow talked to me... it kept playing song after song, which just reminded me of my younger carefree days. This song came on, merging my current reality with my willful past... Magic.

Here I was signing out loud, probably scaring my son for life, and then I started hearing the lyrics, and my mind started tying them in with tweets and emails about sleeping or the lack thereof. There was my aha moment... I related and I understood.

Let's see if I can break this down for you... so far I've written lots of words and said not much (look out politics or consulting here I come!)

Those of you who are avid social networks will understand this, but maybe it may help explain me to those who are yet to even embrace Twitter.

The only way to get something out of something is to put something into it. Social Networking is no different. It is no magic bullet, or answer to the meaning of life, but it is a font of knowledge, which really does need to be mined.

Here's the kicker, it takes time. Now I get paid to Recruit and to Manage a Recruiting team, and whilst I can learn about all these things online in a variety of social networking forums, my day to day responsibility is to find and attract talent to my company.

My hours at work are dedicated to that.

To immerse yourself in these forums/arenas whatever the term you have for it, you have to give up some of your own time, and be willing to work across timezones. I heard Dave Mendoza say once the it's not who you know, it's who knows you!" So the question is raised.. How do you get yourself known? You need to engage in you target markets, whether that be on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or any number of Ning sites. But you seriously need to put in some hours to get that happening, or have a team of elves working around the clock for you.... (it's coming up to their busy season, don't call them until mid January at the earliest for help requests)

To seriously engage, you have to be there, to comment, to debate and to really connect where the action is. My network is littered with people who live this ideal. I'll name but a few.

Jason Davis (AKA Slouch); the king of social networking/recruiting as far as I"m concerned and video blog specialist. He is ALWAYS online, it's rare to log into Recruitingblogs.com without him being logged in. If there is anyone MORE passionate about Recruiting than JD, I'm yet to meet them.

Maren Hogan; She is all over Twitter and RBC like a rash... a nice one by the way! She has a great way of viewing hte world, adding unique insights whilst juggling her family.

Maureen Sharib; telephone sourcer to the stars! You need a name? She'll find it, Maureen always seems to be where I am online, adding comments, asking questions, fuelling debate, AND sharing the skills and tricks that she uses with the rest of us mere mortals

The Recruiting Animal; Is there a more engaged Recruiter? This guy had a radio show before it became en vogue! He is a twitter addict, which when matched with his obvious Starbucks habit, makes him a must person to connect to. He willingly shares his knowledge, without selling services etc... maybe he just likes the celebrity, whatever it is I'm thankful for it.

and last but not least Bill Boorman, this guy is all OVER the Recruiting web. He most likely survives on 3-5 hours sleep a night, and for those other 20 odd hours, you'll find him on Twitter, or a variety of other sites. His passion is Recruiting and it shows and he willingly shares it with whoever asks. His reputation seems to be building daily. There are rumours the man is actually a robot... a claim he strongly denies. Dedicated maybe... a robot.. no.

There are so many more I could list here, but I wont you know who you are.

These people all give so much to the community, and yet I am yet to spend a cent on any of them (sorry guys). Their own personal brand is strong, and have quickly become people I admire and respect.

They always seem to be there, adding value and contributing, I have to stay up late to keep up with it all. And why do I do it? why am I responding to tweets, emails and questions in all hours of the morning? As Bon Jovi says, "I'll sleep when I'm dead"