It’s no secret that social networking is huge now. It’s almost impossible to meet someone who’s involved on the web that doesn’t have a Facebook and/or MySpace account. Up to this point, social networking has worked out better from a personal standpoint, where you are sharing your information with your close network of friends. But with the web still growing tremendously, how do businesses fit into the equation of social networking.

Since social networking on the web is still fairly new, I think it’s yet to be determined how businesses can effectively utilize social networks to be beneficial to their business. Thus far, Facebook has tried to create ways that businesses can target possible customers with targeted social ads, as well as Pages. But these options only give businesses a foot in the door. There isn’t much functionality beyond just having a presence on Facebook, which barely gets means much more than having a personal profile.

What I would like to see is more of these social networking sites create tools specifically made for connecting more consumers with businesses, or businesses connecting with other businesses. In terms of the business-to-business connection, LinkedIn could be in the best position to do this since their goal is for people to create professional relationships.

The right service for business social networking could be a huge hit, and though some social networks have tried their hand at aiming for businesses, the perfect solution is still absent. It will be interesting to see if this area of the web grows over the next year or so. I would like to see a service specifically aimed at business, not just a spinoff from personal social networking.