I have refused to join myspace forever. Even though a number of my friends rave about it, I've just never been that impressed. After getting invited by enough of my friends, I finally joined LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com).

I quickly discovered a number of friends that I had completely lost touch with over the years. It has been great reconnecting with colleagues and advisors that I served with years ago on a national committee.

Several of my younger friends also recommended facebook (www.facebook.com). After the positive experience with LinkedIn, I took the plunge. I'd heard so much about the Facebook API and all of the applications that have been developed. I have at least one friend who uses the Blackberry application for Facebook, but other than that, I haven't seen very many facebook applications that are all that useful.

I'm very excited about the direction that LinkedIn is taking with their API. They have made a number of positive changes over the last few months. They are well on their way to a truly useful tool.

With more than 20 million members, I'd say LinkedIn has definitely reached critical mass.

There are aspects of each that I find useful and/or interesting. As networking tools, they are both welcome additions to help me keep in touch with my network.