If you have answered yes to any of these questions, then you - and your business - are missing out.

The social networking phenomenon isn't just for tracking down old high school chums. It has become a powerful way for businesses, large and small, to grow and prosper.

According to estimates, more than 530 million people are using social networks worldwide. One study has estimated that up to 70 per cent of online conversations in social networks are about brands, according to the consultancy FusionBrand. That's a lot of potential customers surfing the Web and looking for information on products. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), in particular, can take advantage of collaborative computing tools to communicate with customers, increase productivity and, therefore, drive sales - all at relatively low costs.

Admittedly, the choices can be daunting. Facebook or MySpace? LinkedIn or Twitter? Or use of third party software to develop your own network? And with an SME, you might think that you do not have the time or the resources to commit to

maintaining a social networking presence. Here are some tips on how you can effectively bring a social network into your small or medium-sized business:

Explore all your options: Facebook and Myspace are the big brand names in the space, but there is software such as Lotus Connections or other offerings that can help you build a customised network.

Or, you can open a Twitter account and send messages directly to people who follow your feed. Users range from major corporations to SMEs such as restaurants that use Twitter effectively to provide updates on service and special discounts to customers.

Build a community: Social networking tools allow businesses to create blogs and build discussion forums around your products. This can be helpful for employees to share information internally, but it can also help gauge how customers are feeling about certain products and issues. It also provides a forum to interact with customers and solve their problems. Using tags on posts helps to determine what topics are popular among community members and provides a guide to where to focus attention.

Explore the Web for other forums that deal with relevant fields or products, and seed interest by posting information there. SMEs can be subtle about promoting their own site, by using it in an online signature. Eventually, an individual SME's community can take on a life of its own, in the form of discussion groups, or blog responses. When customers start to think of a social network as a hip destination, you're well ahead of the game.

Be responsive: Ask for customer input. Devote time to monitoring and answering online queries generated by your SME's social networking presence. Good and bad news travel around the Internet at incredibly fast speeds. And when you ask for customer input, they are happy to give it to you. Consistent interaction breeds goodwill, recommendations from customers to their friends and eventually, new business.

Use tools: They are available to you on your social networking site. If you're not ready to develop your own presence, explore the many niche social networks developing around various industry sectors - everything from health concerns to industry issues. There, you will find numerous examples of how companies in those industries are building their reputation and their customer bases.

Be committed: An online presence doesn't have to dominate your time, but it does take work. Once you form a community, you need to listen and nurture it with regular two-way communication.

Assign an owner for your online presence, someone who can spent a little time monitoring your efforts, responding to queries and safeguarding against uncouth language or personal attacks. A few hours a week is a good place to start.

In summary, a social networking presence doesn't have to be solely the domain of the giants. In fact, it can be a great competitive equaliser. With a little effort, an SME can be burnishing its brand and building a loyal community of customers around its business, and reaping the dividends.