And yeah to Tracy and Pam, I don’t really buy into the post-date/meeting waiting period but I thought I’d throw it out anyway. Pam, I do know someone who keeps his Facebook constantly updated with absolutely everyone he meets. It’s a bit off-putting but funny to watch :-)

And Tracy, LinkedIn is a networking site a lot like Facebook, but it’s made for professionals for business networking.

Here’s what I’ve learned about the different social media sites: They all have different purposes and should have different rules as well.

Facebook is the more social and personality-filled site. This is the best place to connect with friends old and new, rather than networking or business contacts.

LinkedIn is very good for networking and connecting with business associates. I would say this would be a good place to connect with business acquaintances you meet at places such as conferences or the workplace.

Twitter is the most open form of these sites. Unlike Facebook and LinkedIn, Twitter allows you to follow or be followed by anyone (unless you protect your updates). That means keeping up with celebrities and others whom you would not be connected with on the other two sites.

As far as rules for when to friend/follow, I’d say it’s different for each site. With Facebook, I would lean toward friending only people you are truly friends with. But that’s just me. I guess I would say wait a day or two? I think it will vary depending on you and your relationship to the individual you want to friend. But I think friending them within a few hours of meeting them seems too eager and may come across as a plea to raise your friend count.

With LinkedIn, I think you need to have at least a few previous encounters with the person so that he or she knows at least something about you. Don’t request to be connected to someone you don’t know at all or who doesn’t know you. I would say wait a day or two before requesting if you just meet someone that you want to connect with. This way, you won’t seem too eager, and you can review his or her profile information before officially connecting.

Since Twitter is much less formal when following people, I think it’s OK to start following someone right away. It’s not unusual or too eager because choosing to follow someone involves no requesting (again assuming you don’t protect your updates, which most users don’t). Plus, a new follower shows the Tweeter that the follower is interested in what he or she Tweets.

There’s my long-winded comment for you. Enjoy.