From the rights and wrongs of using Facebook in the workplace, to the measurement of mobile workers out meeting and greeting contacts to win business, social networking is now attracting a great deal of attention from business in the UK and across the world.

But can social networking genuinely help businesses overcome the credit crunch and how can its contribution be measured?

Networking has always been an integral part of business life and always will be. The relationships we form at work play a vital role in the success of our companies and in our own career development.

By and large, networking has traditionally been limited to people on the higher rungs of the corporate ladder. The more senior the role, the more networking plays a central part in the job.

This is now changing with technology giving people at every level in business the opportunity to make and meet contacts in their professional lives and personal lives, and often blur the boundaries between the two.

A more democratic approach to networking presents many opportunities as well as challenges. For businesses to take full advantage of the rise of social networking, they need to understand the value it can deliver, particularly during a period of severe economic difficulty.

According to research produced by the think tank Demos and Orange, one important benefit is that business can become more resilient to the effects of economic downturn by introducing more networked working practices.

Social networks can provide a safety net for business. In a difficult business environment the instinctive reaction can be to batten down the hatches and return to the traditional “command and control” techniques that enable managers to closely monitor and measure productivity.

Allowing workers to have more freedom and flexibility might seem counterintuitive, but it appears to create businesses more capable of maintaining stability.

But can social networking truly help business cope through a difficult economic period and how can its contribution be measured?