If you think gathering connections on LinkedIn is harmless, think again. Say you’re an executive whose connections consist mostly of clients. If a client or colleague recommends someone and you accept them into your network, you could unintentionally grant a competitor access to an unofficial client list, said Terry Gudaitis, vice president of cyber intelligence with the Arlington firm Cyveillance Inc.

As the two men campaigning for Virginia governor make last-minute sound bites to get out the vote on Tuesday, the virtual cocktail parties they host on their Facebook fan pages have exploded in activity. Both campaigns have rolled out Facebook pages, Twitter accounts, YouTube videos and other social media tools to reach voters over the course of the race, in addition to their primary Web sites.

SUZY SZASZ PALMER Metro Business asked Suzy Szasz Palmer, deputy librarian at the Library of Virginia, if libraries are still relevant to our everyday lives in this Google, Facebook and Twitter world: “Libraries are still very important today even in the digital world, which encompasses Google and other social networking sites. It is because of two things.

Alone in her kitchen, Sister Vicki Ix set her tiny video camera on a small tripod above the sink, and commenced to speak to the great big world. “I’m Sister Vicki and welcome to Episode 3 of ‘Nun Better,‘“ she says, smiling into the camera and, in effect, right at you from your computer screen. “Today, jumbo lump crab cakes. Not your typical convent fare, but . . . my aunt in Massachusetts suggested it’s time to move away from pasta.“

Sister Vicki Ix, Benedictine Sisters of Virginia “If St. Paul were alive today, his letters would be going out on the Internet. It can be used for good things, really good things.“ Jonah Holland, blogger, consultant and public relations and marketing coordinator, Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden In the past, we’ve been limited by our local circumstances in building our communities. Now we’re not limited by that. This allows me to talk to anybody in the world who’s talking about that topic.“ John R. Hopkins, senior new media designer at CRT/Tanaka “Social media is all about conversation. If you’re just broadcasting your message and not participating in the conversation. . . . It’s like walking into a cocktail party, handing out business cards and talking, talking, talking.“ Mark Avnet, professor and head of the creative technology track at VCU’s Brandcenter “Social media in general is . . . a place where people can be social. Depending on what people want to do in that space it can be very useful for them—or a waste of time.“ John Petersik, senior account executive, Siddall Inc. “It’s a new shiny thing [companies] know they should be in, but there’s trepidation . . . because you have to step into social media as an equal in the conversation.“ Joe Sokohl, user experience consultant, writer, designer and information architect “All of this goes back to the very first person to use Twitter, who was Alexander Graham Bell, who said, ‘Mr. Watson, come here!‘ That was the first [Twitter] direct message.“ Kate Hall, founder, www. Richmondmom.com “I had an event and put it on my Facebook site and invited people and boom! I immediately had about 20 women confirmed. It’s almost like you reach out and grab people personally.“ Todd Feldman, principal, TF Digital “We’re no longer talking about eyeballs. We now have to talk about influence. A marketer with the right tools and an understanding on how to turn the data into action, can efficiently target messages or content for the greatest opportunity for them to go viral. That’s the power of social media.“ Jeff Caldwell, chief of communications, Virginia Department of Transportation"Our world is changing faster than we can write the rules and certainly faster . . . than a lot of people are comfortable with. We’re dabbling with several of these tools to see what reaches the audience we’re trying to get to. The government is not usually on the cutting edge, but we don’t have a lot of choice.“ Jeff Kraus, assistant vice chancellor of public relations, Virginia Community College System “When people kind of raise their eyebrows because I’m tweeting on Twitter or sending a Facebook message, I say this is the same stuff we’ve been doing over backyard fences with our neighbors. It’s just happening through a computer now.“ Sonali Shetty, partner, Spinnaker Edge Consulting “Companies spend hundreds of thousands of dollars creating focus groups . . . to hear direct feedback. Social media is free, and lots of companies are taking advantage of it.“ Jon Newman, co-founder, The Hodges Partnership, and blogger on social media “Everybody sort of thinks of Facebook as this thing for high school or college students, but it’s a platform that transcends. One minute I can be posting my son’s birthday party pictures [on Facebook] and the next I can instant-message a business client I’ve been trying to reach.“

The Jepson School of Leadership Studies, the Social Media Club of Richmond and the Connect Network are collaborating to organize a conference, “Leadership in the Digital Age: Social Media or Social Good.“ The event, to be held in July on a date to be determined, will be limited to representatives of nonprofits and government-funded agenices and projects. To find out more, e-mail , or call (804) 287-6522.

If you’re not using social media, should you be, and how should you start? Here’s advice from people who know social media.

• “I think people should definitely ask themselves, ‘What is it I want to do and why do I want to do it?‘“ said Joe Sokohl, user experience consultant, writer, designer and information architect

If you’re not using social media, should you be? How should you start? Here’s advice from people who know and use social media. “I think people should definitely ask themselves, ‘What is it I want to do and why do I want to do it?‘“—Joe Sokohl, user experience consultant, writer, designer and information architect “There are so many tools out there, there’s no excuse to use it badly.“

In an effort to better integrate social media into its work, CRT/tanaka has bought Livingston Communications, a Washington-based social media firm. This is the second time this year that the Richmond-based public relations and marketing firm has bought another agency. Mark Raper, CEO of CRT/tanaka, said adding Livingston will allow his firm to integrate social media into its core public relations and marketing disciplines. Social media include online platforms such as Twitter and Facebook.