These days it is not very uncommon to hear phrases like Twitter will change the world, or that Facebook will guide the way businesses deal with their customers, or something on similar lines. While it is undeniable that Internet is changing the world as we know it, yet by itself Internet can’t do much.

Without the offline world, the online world simply cannot exist.

While the above concept may sound too simple to be missed, but that is exactly what seems to be happening these days. The apple was falling from the apple tree for centuries, but it took a Newton to tell the world that it was gravitation that was making the apple fall. While I do not claim to have made a discovery of Newtonian proportion, I must say something that is so simple that it is often ignored.

The social networking sites are all the rage these days. The popularity of Twitter can be gauged by the fact that hardly a day goes by when we don’t see Twitter in the news. Some might say that the reason for the success of Twitter is that it facilitates interaction between people. But, let us face it – Twitter started becoming popular only when celebrities began to endorse it. Be it Britney Spears, Barack Obama, Gul Panag or, the latest to jump on the bandwagon, Sachin Tendulkar – every time a celebrity joins Twitter, Twitter following increases manifold.

In spite of all the celebrity bashing that many Twitter users go in for, it remains a fact that most celebrities have followers that run into thousands, if not lakhs. What does this say about Twitter, and Twitter users or, for that matter, about any social networking site?

While it is true that many people join these sites to stay in touch with friends and family, it is equally true that a large number of people join these sites to use them as a marketing tool, or to have a shot at their fifteen minutes of fame.

Hearing stories about how people have successfully used social networking, or online marketing, to set up a successful business creates an illusion that anyone can do it, and so, everyone tries to do it.

But, a fact that is often forgotten is that, barring a few exceptions, it is not possible to set up a business or achieve success solely through your work in the virtual world. If you look at the profiles of most people who have made it the online world, it is evident that most of these people are good at what they do in the real world. They merely extended their talents to the online world.

Coming back to the example of  Twitter again, the people who have the highest number of followers are those who are successful at what they do in real life.

It will do all of us a world of good, and save us from a lot of disappointments later, if we remember that the virtual world is at best, an aid to the real world, and not its replacement. Would you agree?