At a social media webinar on Friday, Seth Godin said that social media is about connecting to friends. And for that reason, companies are bad at it.

The Pareto Principle states that for many events 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes. In marketing, we think of it as 80% of business comes from 20% of the people.

What if we seriously thought of those people as friends? But not as people to sell stuff to. We don’t walk around trying to sell things to our friends all the time. Only AMWAY dudes do that, and no one likes them.

No. We’re talking about efforts to identify and connect with friends. To egnage in conversations with them, in places they are in.

This doesn't mean companies should go out and start MySpace and Facebook pages. It means changing the way you think about your best customers. Stop selling to them -- chances are they'll keep buying anyway. Instead, turn them into little brand evangelicals.

that could be the power of social networking. But it starts with a simple friendship. And if it ends with someone who is a brand evangelical, then you will have used social media well.