By Penelope Trunk , reprinted with permission from www.JobSeekerWeekly.com

Networking for introverts just got a lot easier. You'd think that the people who are most afraid to talk to others would be the ones hiding behind the Internet. But in fact, with the rise of social media tools in the last five years, extroverts are going online to be their extroverted selves.

So finally, introverts can hang with extroverts without having to go to parties. On the Internet, introverts and extroverts are on a more even playing field. You have time to think before you answer, you don't have to look like a cheerleader or a football player, and if you feel like sitting in the dark under your blanket, no one will know, as long as your Web camera is not recording it.

The social network tools are actually varied ways that people can connect with each other online. Think of Match.com, for example. That is a way for people to present themselves to the public as a potential partner, and then find other people doing the same.

It is, in effect, a way to reach out to people who are interested in doing the same thing. And it doesn't matter if you're shy or introverted because you have time to figure out what to say to someone, and control over the pace and context of the conversation.

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