Social networking? Nope. Never heard of it.

There is no shortage of research pointing to the fact that the web still isn't nearly as 'social' as it might seem to those of us who live and work in marketing, technology and social media.  I've blogged about this before. Just because blogging, vlogging, virtual worlds, microblogging and mobile social software might be woven into the very fabric of our day-to-day lives, that doesn't mean that any of these things have actually mainstreamed.  We're trying new things, overdosing on them and writing them off as yesterday's news long before the more typical consumer has even heard of them. 

Take plain ol' social networking for instance.  Who among you doesn't at least have a Facebook profile?  I'd guess most (if not all) of you do, and the odds are good that we're even FB friends with one another.

So who woulda thunk that more than half of the world's population doesn't even know what the term social networking means? It's true --  58% of people don't know what social networking is.  That's just one of the key findings from a recent study by research firm Synovate (interpreted here by eMarketer.)

Now of course the results vary by age and geography, and I can guarantee you that the fact that 42% do know about social networking is a quantum leap beyond where the world was even a few short years ago. 

But imagine you're on a crowded train.  You know what social networking is; in fact you're all over social media.  Odds are the person sitting next to you couldn't tell you the first thing about MySpace or Facebook.  Kinda interesting.

Wanna know what's even more curious?  The study also found that 36% percent of current social network members report that they are already losing interest.  That number is higher -- 45% -- here in the good ol' US of A.  How does that jive with your personal behavior?  Do you find that you maintain your Facebook profile less vigorously than you once did?  That it takes you longer and longer to get around to approving LinkedIn connection requests?  That you tweet less frequently?  That you're less eager to try the latest 'next new thing?'  If I'm being honest with myself, I'd have to answer most of those questions in the affirmative.  If I didn't earn my bucks doing what I do for a living, I might have already let most of my social networking activity go dark.

So with the majority of the population not yet clued in, and a third of the early adopters growing bored, does that mean that by the time that stranger on the train has created her Facebook profile you'll have moved on to something else entirely?  Could be.

In other notable Synovate findings, members seem to believe that social networking makes interpersonal relationships easier and more abundant, but just might be turning us into a bunch of chubby, pasty-faced illiterates.  Go figure:

• Forty percent of people who engage in social networking agree that online communication can be just as meaningful as face-to-face communication.
• When asked if they agree with the statement "online social networking is better than not interacting at all", it was not surprising that members of social networking sites are far more likely to agree (75%) than non-members at 51%.
• Among social networkers in the markets surveyed, almost half (46%) agree that it is easier to make friends online than in person.
• Thirty seven percent of all people from the UAE, 35% of South Africans and 29% of Taiwanese agreed that they had more friends online than they have in the 'real' world.
• More than half the social networkers surveyed agreed that people's language skills are deteriorating as a result of online social networking.
• Seventy-eight percent of social networkers agree that people are better off doing outdoor activities than spending time in front of a computer.

How does all of this jive with your own experience and point of view?  Chime in.