Linkedin, Facebook, etc.---Worth it?

[Adam Blatner]

Dear colleagues, I'm interested in whether social media yield more than the time investment at a useful ratio. I was invited to join as a friend by a colleague and I responded, "At this point, perhaps because of my ignorance, it seems as if these social media may well consume much more time than they will yield. I am willing to be instructed about this, but unless one has a rather scanning (rather than focused) professional or social life style, it's not clear what contents will emerge."

Under what circumstance is that involvement better than reliance on direct email?

Are some of these related to the idea that some folks may have more psyche-telic rather than socio-telic connections? In that case, I would have to be interested in others based on multiple roles, not just our common professional interests. 
       I do have some relations like that, but they are family or personal friends with history, nor neighbors with multiple role overlaps. 

   Thoughts?  Warmly, Adam
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