I found this great tool for looking at your network in a new way: “7 Steps to Conducting Your Own Social Networking Audit.”  The site itself has some interesting ideas on the difference between traditional networking and “social exploration.”  I like this conversation because it focuses networking on depth and purpose–depth of connection and looking at connections in the context of purpose.

On a related topic, Simon, points me to this posting about social maps. Social maps are a way of understanding who we are connected to and how in a more holistic way–to make sense out of the chaos that comes from using LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Typepad, Ning, Flickr, del.icio.us, YouTube… well, you get the idea.

BTW–The idea from the social map posting of having information find us, through out networks, is a good one. I blogged about this, after reading the 4-Hour Work Week.

What I’m seeing is that technology provides us with divergence, touching more places and people, gathering more knowledge. And the challenge is to create convergence, towards one central place where identity, passion, and interest are all in sync. Sounds like a community to me.