In social media, and life, the backbone of your very existence is in the number and types of relationships you have. Whether they be friends, lovers, or the much-envied friends with benefits, you come to a certain understanding of just how far you can push your limits in these given relationship statuses. And like life, some of your social media relationships will be more genuine than others. The basis of social media is to build relationships, including (but not limited to) professional, anonymous or simply having randoms available to spread your virals across the internet like an STD. But there comes a point when jumping around from social group to social group will make it hard to mix professional and personal relationships; just ask the big names on Digg.

Relationship Status: Here for friendship (Facebook, MySpace, etc) These seemingly innocent and friendly social sites give you the privilege of finding long lost friends from kindergarten, making new ones in college, and best of all being able to update your entire friend list as to when you last cried. However, while many of these relationships are based on a human interaction, there are some “friends” out there who aren’t exactly the innocent person their profile picture turns out to be. But do not automatically assume that they are serial rapists… in social media, they could easily be serial marketers.

Strictly Business: (LinkdIn, Naymez, Spoke) These relationships exist on a professional level, giving business people the opportunity to get ahead in their career and business endeavors. Colleagues are able to promote co-workers, job seekers are able to create a profile resume for prospective employers to search for (which, in my opinion, beats out the college binge pictures on your MySpace), and people are able to network with other people within the same industry. These relationships are strictly business, so do not be surprised when an employee is seeking endorsements only to thank you with a two-week notice.

How Much for the Night? (Buzz Groups, Shout Groups) Hi, my name is AnotherProfileSameIP, and I am a buzzer. Collective response: Hi APSIP. (I buzzed you, send some love back). This is the all-too famous/shameless relationship that people enter into to play that never-ending game of “We both know why we are here- let’s just get it over with and move on.” These groups seem to be growing more and more in the social media world, which should not surprise any of us one bit. I think it extends from the MySpace/Facebook “Add Me” groups, where the lowliest of the low can easily make hundreds of friends by posting a comment to add them. It doesn’t matter how hairy your face mole is, or whether people mistake you for male because your mustache is so thick. Basically this relationship is the strictly business relationship, but without the personal experience. You log into the group and interact just enough so that people get to know your “name.” That way, when it comes time to get onto the homepage of Digg, you can throw back the “I did this for you” remark, and instantly get buzz on your posts. Not a bad idea; as long as you make sure that you aren’t swapping favors and cash on the corner of a busy city street at 3am.

Celebrity/stalker: (Digg, Stumble, etc) You are judged on the number of fans, friends, and ratings you have, on your reviews, and your likes and dislikes. The more foundation you have, the more recognition you have. People will know your screen name no matter what social site you belong to. The newbs will pray to not only be added to your fan base, but scream uncontrollably and tear your clothes off when you add them to your mutual friend list (not to mention when you shout to them). They stalk your profile waiting for your latest diggs and twitters. They see everything you do, makeup or not. But you do not even know they exist (cue in Clay Aiken ‘Invisible’). Chances of getting into the network of the famous: not very likely, “I digg and stumble like everyone else; one page at a time. The only difference is when I do… I get on the homepage.” These famed Diggers and Stumblers actually revel in the amount of fans they have. In fact, they compete amongst each other to see who can have the biggest fan base without having to add any friends. Pretty lonely life if you ask me.

As a social media specialist, I had to learn the boundaries of these relationships the hard way. I got my heart trampled on via perverts on MySpace, was crushed when my Digg submissions didn’t get to the homepage (who doesn’t want to read about a work shower?), and finally came to grips when I joined a buzz group where the only interaction is from people getting mad at the group for only “30 buzz’s this week.” In the end, I had to learn to pick myself up by the bootstraps and kept stumbling along, somewhat scarred but still sociable.

Erin Cartaya is a Social Media Specialist at eVisibility (www.evisibility.com). Her social activity can be followed on sites such as Digg (ecrunner), StumbleUpon (biddybunzcc), and Twitter (ecrunner). Check out her latest happenings today (please, no one night stand requests).