Industry-specific online networks also were reported to be more useful than even offline business networking vehicles.

Industry-specific online communities, like RTO Online for the rent to own industry, had more small business owners as members than some of the more popular social networking sites like Facebook and Myspace. Nineteen percent of owners polled by Discover Financial Services said they were a member of an online community that was specific to their industry, which was higher than their reported participation at some of the more popular general-interest sites, which attracted from 3 percent to 18 percent of small business owners.

Industry-specific online networks also were reported to be more useful than even offline business networking vehicles. When asked how being a member of an industry-specific online community has most helped their businesses, 36 percent of small business owners cited new business leads and 37 percent chose getting useful business tips.

In comparison, when asked to choose the biggest networking benefit of belonging to an in-person local business group, 21 percent reported getting new business leads and 16 percent reported getting useful business tips.

“Clearly, sites with a specific purpose or serving a targeted industry are a lot more useful to business owners than general networking sites” said Sastry Rachakonda of Discover Financial Services.

Online Networking Varies by Age Group

While in-person networking is clearly more prevalent overall, not surprisingly, the survey found that younger business owners use online networking the most. In the 18-29 age group, membership at general online networking sites reached as high as 41 percent at some of the more popular online networking communities. Membership among older age groups at the same sites is still significantly lower.

“While online forums have not completely caught on with business owners yet, the younger business owners are using them a lot more. This is likely to be the wave of the future,” said a spokesman for Discover.