Nearly three-quarters of people who use the Internet also use social networks. There are no exact figures because they change constantly. The point is that you probably are among the billions that do. But it doesn’t matter if you have a lot of friends, or only a few; thousands of connections, or only a handful. The real question is how are you using your social networks to build a list? In this article, I want to share with you a way to do it.

Let me start by giving you the punch line. Fundamentally, you have to develop a relationship with your friends or connections. But, hear me out.

Whether you realize it or not, the social networks that you belong to give you a significant advantage; and that is that the relationships have already been started.

Think about this. None of the people in your social networks got there accidentally. Either they invited you; or you invited them. And right now, it doesn’t matter if you remember doing so. The fact is that you are at least one step beyond a cold introduction.

You can approach anyone in your network and say that you belong to it.

In LinkedIn, for example, it’s impossible for you to contact anyone who isn’t at least a 2nd level connection. And those people have to be in the same group that you’re in. By being active in that group, you already have begun to develop a relationship with these people.

One mistake that many Internet marketers make is that they assume that the only people who will join their list are those with whom they make direct contact. But, according to a study published in the American Journal of Sociology, your friends have more friends than you do. And that means that if you get in the habit of providing high quality and unique content to your friends, that when they see the value that you offer, they will then recommend you to those in their networks.

And that’s when things can really take off.

Think about videos on YouTube that go viral. How does that happen? At first, it’s only seen by a few people. But it’s the inherent value that causes them to pass it onto their networks.

You can build your list in exactly the same way. And as we all know, that list is an indispensable part of helping you to create an online information business.