So, there are now a zillion articles on social networking and how to make social networking a useful business tool, with most of them sort of beating the same drum: powerful channel, good marketing opportunity, great way to harness word of mouth advertising, customer referrals, and stuff like that. In other words, sort of long on rhetoric and short on practical tactics to drive those activities. That’s because it is really hard to crack this code, especially since these networks aren’t like any other online site and as a result traditional ways of monetizing these channels via advertising have missed the mark.

One of the things that I read recently offered some advice to those building social networks that the key to success is to port the online experience to these networks. In other words, if you can do it on CNN.com, or Macys.com, you should be able to do it on Facebook and MySpace and LinkedIn, just as easily.

I beg to differ.

The potential of these networks is not to morph the existing online experience to these networks, but rather to make it easier to do things that are done traditionally in the offline world. Example: meet new music artists and/or distribute new music if you are a wanna-be Justin Timberlake via MySpace. Or, to keep up to date with what your friends are doing via Facebook. Or look for a job on the down low with LinkedIn. All of these things are possible offline, and were always done that way, but in an inefficient, cost-ineffective fashion, or simply not done at all.

Looking at social networks as just another online channel does a disservice to the channel, the networks and the people in those networks. To simply approach social networks as an extension of online simply underestimates its potential to transform the way in which products are developed and tested, relationships with customers and brands are developed and nurtured and relationships within organizations are tapped for their new ideas.

I think we’ve seen the results of companies who took the advice of those who said that MySpace and Facebook are just like any other online channel: $.15 CPM and anemic fan pages.