It's no longer just teenagers actively embracing social networking sites. A new study shows that IT professionals are also harnessing the power of social networking.

Syntel, an IT and knowledge process outsourcing company, conducted a survey of 430 Fortune 1000 IT pros, asking if they were active on social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, Spoke or Xing. Close to half, or 42%, said they frequent the sites more than three times a week. Another 35% categorized themselves as fairly active, frequenting them at least once per week. The remaining 22% are not active on social networking sites or visit less than once per month.

Bharat Desai, chairman and CEO of Syntel, says it’s not surprising techies would be early adopters of this technology. “The next step is to find ways to apply the social experience among IT professionals in a meaningful way that shares technical knowledge as well as a sense of community,” he says. “Forward-thinking organizations will embrace, rather than try to fight, these new social networking sites as a means to better engage their consumers.”

As adoption of corporate social networks picks up or your employees use them to communicate, network and entertain, you’ll want to explore. Network World columnist Mark Gibbs set up a site through Ning that readers can join. (See “A social networking playground”).

Don’t forget about security and privacy concerns, though. Check out our tips on using social networking safely and get some insight into privacy issues. 

Amy Schurr is the former managing features editor of Network World.