LinkedIn

Heartland Technology Solutions Chief Operating Officer Jane Cage began experimenting with social networking just a few months ago, with accounts on LinkedIn and Facebook. "My goal was to understand social networking. It's not anything I grew up with and it's not been my everyday mode of operating the business," Cage said.

But in less than one year, Cage got a direct business lead to do a big security audit for an organization nearby that she would not have gotten without LinkedIn. She found it by looking through the contacts of her existing connections. "It wouldn't have happened if someone else hadn't seen my name on the connection," she said.