To say social networking and social media is a hot topic these days is a huge understatement. Earlier this month we found out that the White House jumped on the Twitter bandwagon. Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, LinkedIn we all know them well and if you don’t you’ve been stuck under your typewriter. These networking sites like email, instant messages and texts have become relevant fixtures in our lives. It is clear that the way we communicate is changing. The way people stay connected with friends and family members and even the way businesses are interacting with their customers and potential clients is completely different as well. But can these forms of digital communication truly ever replace face-to-face or phone conversations?

Social networking sites started with a simple concept: people want (need) to stay connected. Can you say what you need to say in 140 characters or less? Or do you pick up the phone and potentially have a 30 minute conversation? As they say, time is money. Back in the day, texts were just used for grocery reminders “need milk” but now they’re used for fairly personal concepts like “Happy Birthday!” When you care enough to “text” the very best (Hallmark). Hey, at least some contact is better than none, right? Facebook has a similar attribute, you can do a quick drive-by on your old childhood friend’s page and say “Hello” without the obligation of waiting for a response. That’s the great thing about social networking you aren’t committed to the conversation. It’s a way to contribute and have a one-way conversation. Really it’s a form of broadcasting. It’s an efficient way of saying what you need to say without all the fat.

The same holds true for businesses using social networking to stay in touch with their base. In a case where you are using Twitter, there’s a competitive advantage when you can share your message and reach a qualified audience very quickly. For example, you “tweet” an article to your group of followers. It can then compound very quickly if it just gets “re-tweeted” once or twice by your followers’ followers. It can spread like wildfire. I should mention this only works when you have something to say that’s worth sharing.

I feel digital forms of communication aren’t directly replacing verbal forms of communication, because they are filling a gap that wasn’t widely used before their inception. People don’t verbally communicate in fragments (only if you’re a robot) like you would in a text or an instant message. People don’t call to share articles or blog posts they are reading. If anything social media has allowed phone or face-to-face conversations to be much more meaningful. They hold much more weight when you take the time to pick up the phone and invest in the conversation.

An email, text, or tweet can’t share tone of the message or inflection of their voice, they can’t tell you if the person is happy or sad (regardless of smiley face options available). That’s why social networking sites won’t ever replace in-person or phone communication because they are fragmented thoughts and can only occupy one dimension of a conversation. But what they do well is they allow you to stay in touch with a large mass of people without the commitment.

I can presume I’ll have a different viewpoint when video chatting becomes much more prevalent.