Last week, I was trying to take the Fear Factor out of social networking sites on the Internet.

In addition to talking about women in leadership at the ICAN Women’s Leadership Conference in Omaha, I also held a session on cyber networking.

Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter are just a few of the sites that people every where are joining, thinking about joining, or thinking about thinking about joining.

I decided to approach the talk in a way that would make everyone in the room feel comfortable with this stuff. It’s really not that complicated, I swear. And you don’t have to eat bull testicles.

I had a bunch of extra business cards made before the trip and when I picked them up I started to think business cards may very well be obsolete some day. Why would you need them? You’ll be able to one day find anyone you want in the world via social networking sites. That’s just going to be the reality.

But these sites will give you more than just a name, company logo, phone number and email. You’ll get a photo, a resume, and even ongoing commentary from the people you want to network with.

Just head over to Facebook and find out if the hiring manager you’re going to be interviewing with likes to travel or cook. Check out LinkedIn and you’ll be able to see all the companies someone has worked for. And find out how boring, or funny, someone is by following their tweets on Twitter.

How could anyone have imagined such an endless stream of information that would be available from your computer.

It’s a great way to find out about people you know and want to know; and it’s a great way to get the word out about you.

You know, personal branding. That buzz word has been taking off, despite my efforts to kill it.

“Being part of a social network isn’t required but it is a differentiator,” says Dan Schawbel, author of “Me 2.0: Build a Powerful Brand to Achieve Career Success.” His book just came out today and it’s geared towards Gen Y, but there are some good nuggets for more mature workers as well.

You definitely want every differentiator you can get right now.

And, you definitely want to look cool. If you don’t know what the heck these sites are and don’t partake in at least one you’re going to look a bit dated to some employers. That’s the point I made to the people that attended my social networking talk, and I think it got through.

One attendee sent me an email after the event and she wrote: “Who doesn’t want to be cool?”

Here’s a link to my Power Point presentation on social networking that I presented to ICAN: cyber-networking.ppt

Also, I forgot to mention that anyone who wants to follow me on Twitter should do so here. And also, connect with me on LinkedIn.com.