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Here’s a little tip. If you’re the daughter of a presidential candidate and you decide to support the opponent, don’t make it public through social networking.

Back when the election was in its infant stages, Rudy Giuliani’s daughter, Caroline, decided it was time to update her Facebook profile. She set her political views as “liberal” and joined the group “One Million Strong for Barack” a fan page for Barack Obama supporters.

The media was all over the social networking profile like flies to a picnic.

We could go through all the do’s and don’ts of social networking but the overall message in all of this: social networking websites are an effective way to get your message across and meet other people with similar interests.

According to comScore, a marketing research company serving many of the Internet’s largest businesses, Facebook is the leading social networking site based on monthly unique visitors, having overtaken main competitor MySpace in April 2008. ComScore reports that Facebook attracted 132.1 million unique visitors in June 2008, compared to MySpace, which attracted 117.6 million.

And to clear up the myth that Facebook is just for “young people,” the website boasts membership that includes the likes Fortune 500 businessmen, celebrities, political leaders, musicians and everybody in between.

While on Facebook, you can join fan pages for your favorite television show, celebrity, musician, local celebrity. There are groups for people interested in everything from fly fishing to reading the Harry Potter series. And on the more professional side of things … there are countless opportunities for networking.

There are other “business social networking sites” the most common of which is Linkedin, which is good but strictly business. The site lacks the ability to show your true colors. While this may be good when looking for a new career, ultimately your true colors will eventually shine through anyway, so if you lead a relatively normal life, networking and expressing your individuality on Facebook shouldn’t pose too much of a business risk.

To navigate your way through this economic storm will require creativity, determination, innovation, strong communication skills and the ability to do some very clever networking. Using social networking tools is the perfect launch pad from which to present yourself to the professional world. As a matter of fact, the HR recruiter who initially brought me to Denver first met me … on Facebook.

So are you ready to catch the Facebook frenzy? Be sure to add me as a friend!