yes it certainly works. Here are some ideas and advice about how to make it work.

ABC?s of Social Networking Success
Action- take action daily. In order to be successful with social networking you must take some kind of action every single day. Building relationships with people does not happen if you are sporadic.
B- blogs- it is a given in today?s social networking world that you must have an interesting, updated frequently blog. Take the time to do a good job, allow others to leave comments and read the comments you receive.
C- conversation- This is at the heart of all social networking communities and conversations, the ability to have a conversation with others on the internet. Become a master communicator.
D- dabble- it pays to dabble and experiment with several sites until you find 3-5 sites that you are comfortable with and where you feel like you can make a contribution.
E- effective, social networking is some of the most effective marketing today but you must make the effort necessary to make it so.
F- friends, you must have large numbers of friends in order to be a successful social networker. Make real friends with this people and take the time to get to know them.
G-groups, join some groups, and create a few of your own and contribute real value. Groups are full of spam on many of the social networking sites and if you are the one who really contributes value, you will stand out.
H-Hubpages- this is another great site, where you can develop some great content to share with others.
Ideas- share new ideas you develop with your friends on social networking communities. Seek their feedback and advice and they will happily give it to you. Offer feedback on their ideas as well.
J- Journey- social networking success is a journey. You will not know everything you need to know overnight and it is important to realize that social networking involves a journey down the path of success.
K- KISS- Keep it simple silly- you have probably heard this acronym before but it is crucial to your social networking success. The more complicated you try to make the process the less successful you will be.
L-links- give link love and you will get it in return. When you find a blog post or a useful website by one of your friends or contacts, go ahead and link to it. They will love you for it and will be likely to do you the favor as well.
M- magnetic- strive to make yourself magnetic by offering true value and a piece of yourself to those you come in contact with.
N- Nice- This may seem obvious, but too many people come across with the wrong attitude or as being only someone who wants to sell something when they are using social networking communities.
O- original- The more content and ideas you can come up with which is original and different the more people will be drawn to you and seek to be your friend.
P- Participation- You must take the time to participate in a social network. Leave comments, add content, ask questions of others and more.
R- real- be real and seek to develop true friendships with others. They will flock to you if you are real and not spammy.
S-Squidoo- make sure to create at least two good high quality lenses. This site has a lot of traffic as well as great search engine rankings and you must use this site in order to experience optimum success.
T-tags- make sure to use good proper tags. Use the ones that people will really use to find you and your success will soar.
U- upright-seek to come across as always being in a good position. Never post your status as angry, sleepy, mad or anything else negative.
V- video is the rage right now and you must have at least a few decent videos in order to experience great success.
W-wait- your social networking success will not happen over night. You need to work at it and be willing to do what is necessary and it does take time.
Z- zeal, go after your social networking success with zeal and enthusiasm. Come across as a person that others would love to meet in person.