Things won’t turn around overnight, and it seems small businesses have caught on to the notion: When the going gets tough – the tough get networking.

I’m not just talking about social networks – I’m talking all networks : Blogs, forums, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn.

They’re all being used by small businesses to their fullest advantage and  - for some – business couldn’t be better.

Case in point:

The Charlotte Observer recently featured the story of specialty food maker Donya Schweizer.

When Donya had trouble getting her line of gourmet foods off the ground she turned to blogging and social networking.  A quick WordPress setup and her blog was up and running in a day. She then used the power of Facebook and Twitter to kick start a word-of-mouth campaign. 1,300 Twitter followers later, Donya can’t get her chocolate-infused meat rubs out the door fast enough.

Wait.

Chocolate-infused meat rubs?

I digress.

Bottom line –  Web 2.0 platforms have reached a social tipping point. They’ve transformed the way we communicate and how small businesses operate.

In fact, corporate spending on Web 2.0 software – including blogs, social networks, mashups, podcasts, RSS, widgets and wikis – is expected to climb by a whopping 43% annually.

The networking revolution is here and any business that does not take full advantage of it is – well – not doing good business.