In the past, Craigslist killers and Match.com horror stories often led the public to view social networking sites with one eyebrow raised. Now the stink is finally lifting.

We get it–any platform that provides the opportunity to pose as someone other than yourself will attract a certain number of dubious characters.

Now, however, social networking sites have begun to leverage the power of people with nothing–or at least nothing felonious–to hide. In other words, it’s now okay to tell your grandmother that you met your new boyfriend online or to tell your boss that you’re joining some online friends for a social dinner. This element of our culture and reality has changed. Online networking is the “new normal.”

Our ironic society has no problem understanding how living in a big city can be a lonely existence, and sites like Meetup, Grubwithus and Grouper now thrive in metropolises because even independent city folk want things like friends and significant others (go figure). These sites encourage users to meet not only in virtual reality but in real life–the part of life that requires one to get a hair cut and feed the dog. In fact, real-life interests like these provide perfect starting points for bringing people together.

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We’ve all heard about the meteoric rise of Pinterest, the hottest new social network around. We’ve read stories about how it has revitalized entire industries and op-eds commanding every business to start a Pinterest account like, yesterday.

But are marketing and PR professionals listening? Apparently not: A survey developed by The Creative Group found that a whopping 44% of ad/marketing execs have “no current interest in using Pinterest for business purposes”; only 7% have accounts, and only 1 in 10 plan to get involved in the near future. (Here’s a handy infographic!)

Most tellingly, 18% are interested but wary, describing themselves as aware of the service but “still hesitant about using it for business purposes.” Why is this?

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