Woo hoo! fashion has gone mad for social networking

I've been working online for quite some time now - eight whole years to be precise (cue lots of comments saying I don't look old enough... please!).

In that time, the web and the way that we use it has changed beyond all recognition - I remember looking at Facebook about four years ago and thinking 'well, that will never catch on', and look at it now.

So, when I came to work at HJ it was a bit of a shock to see how far behind the curve the hair industry was - I couldn't get my head around the fact that there were so many manufacturers, let alone salons, that didn't even had an online presence.

Thankfully, that's no longer the case and there are some really good industry websites out there, but there aren't too many examples of people who have really maximised the potential of social networking.

So, I was really excited when someone sent me this article - http://mashable.com/2010/02/13/fashion-industry-social-media/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Mashable+%28Mashable%29 - about how the fashion industry has embraced facebook, twitter et al and have really got them working for them.

Fashion and hair always seems to go in tandem so I'm predicting a revolution where hairdressers and colour houses really start to use social networking to its full - and that means having active conversations with customers rather than just sending out the messages you want them to hear.

Because, as designer Diane von Furstenberg so succintly puts it: "Ignoring the Internet [and social media] is madness!"

Don't forget that you can follow HJi on Twitter.com/hji or become a fan or interact with more than 5,000 hairdressers on our facebook fan page.