Less than a year after launching UPworld.com--a professional networking community for the real estate, architecture and construction industries--the site has more than 2,000 members. Magee, an architect and real estate development consultant, and Clancy, an architect and urban designer, base their success largely on timing.

"Just a year or two ago, the idea of on-line networking would have met fierce resistance from professionals who generally associated it with teenage chat rooms," explains Magee, the firm's CEO. "However, the new generation now entering the worlds of investment banking, real estate, design, construction and engineering is as familiar and comfortable with social networking as the previous generation is with e-mail." As Clancy, UPworld's creative director, notes, "They have no qualms about developing relationships on-line and take advantage of the opportunities with a vengeance."

That's what the two 33-year-olds realized when they analyzed social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace and Friendster and professional networks like LinkedIn and Ryze. The Internet in general and virtual networking specifically is rewriting the rules of communication and interaction.