A study presented at the American Public Health Association’s annual meeting, found that 11 percent of Florida high school students and 4 percent of middle school students had smoked hookah at least once.

For those of you who don’t know, a hookah is a big water pipe that is smoked socially like the one pictured in this post. The practice is rapidly growing in popularity among teens and college students.

With so much talk about social networking and herd thinking, it’s not surprising that social smoking is in vogue.

Every time one door is closed on tobacco use, another opens. Socially, smoking a cigarette is becoming taboo, but the hookah on the other hand becoming accepted. The problem is that it’s worse for you than smoking a cig. The urban myth is that because the smoke passes through water, it’s less harmful.

Tobacco has always had a social element to its use. Smoking was considered cool. Cigar clubs abounded in the 1990’s. Now hookahs are entering into the most social of generations. Is it any wonder?

Teens are expert at social networking online with sites like Facebook and Myspace.  At last count there were 250,000 social networking sites. By the time most adults find out about the newest site, rigor mortis has usually set in.  Hanging out now means hanging out on line and the venue is where ever there’s an Internet connection.  Teens in effect take their friends with them where ever they go.

In its essence, the tendency of teens to socialize is the same as it’s always been with some exceptions.  Now being a friend isn’t a big commitment, you just click on accept.  This allows even the shyest teen to assemble a group of friends that would make the most popular cheerleader jealous.  They become part of a group and feel included.  They can be in constant contact with their friends through instant messaging, texting or just hanging out on Myspace.

Some teens “geek out” and concentrate on a particular interest.  A study performed by the MacArthur Foundation points out that geeking out is a highly social and engaged activity…contrary to popular opinion.  While adults participate, teens do not automatically give their elders the credibility of expertise.  “Because I said so” doesn’t fly.

The study goes on to suggest that teens are more likely to respect another teen’s authority and be more motivated to learn from peers than from adults.

If you think about it, the value of “networking” with people of like interests and condition is something adults do everyday.  If you own a business, you want to talk to other people who own a business.  If you are a marketer, you want to learn from other marketers.  In the process, we make friends.

So, if you are a marketer interested in communicating with teens via social networking, making friends is what it’s all about.  The more you do to facilitate the friend-making process, the better your efforts will be accepted.