Seminar paper from the year 2006 in the subject Business economics - Miscellaneous, grade: 1,5, Vienna University of Economics and Business (Department of Englisch Business Communication), course: Englisch Business Communication, language: English, abstract: Personal connections between people have always been a major factor for success in business, and networking nowadays has become a major trend in all kind of industries. With the increasing availability of internet connections (comScore Networks 2006) and use of social networking platforms (Trend IQ 2004: 15), networking and internetworking has become an important activity for most employed and self-employed people - these days networking is easier, more effective and efficient than it has ever been before. This paper has a dual objective. On the one hand, it seeks to explore four of the most interesting and important social networks for people in Europe to extend their own networks and thus to increase their success in business (Open Business Club GmbH 2006: 1-2). On the other hand, it aims to highlight the "do's and dont's" of networking that should allow the reader to avoid the most common pitfalls in networking as well as to increase his own networking efficiency and effectiveness.