Human beings are extremely social creatures and the term social networking which we often tie to the electronic world of blogs, Facebook and Twitter is really just an extension of what humans did before the age of computers and interconnected devices. The difference between today's social interaction and those of the past is we can now measure and manage the process and leverage the interactions of the networks to help promote brands.

There is more of course as the efficiency of electronic communications means we don't need to use a telephone or pencil and paper to communicate and moreover people can reach entire groups with the minimal effort related to a simple tweet or status post.

People often turn to their friends and others they trust for opinions because they are hit with so much branding that they aren't sure which phone is best or which car has the softest ride.