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Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss will never forget their first brush with social networking.

The twins hired fellow Harvard classmate Mark Zuckerberg in 2003 to code and program their fledgling social network website "ConnectU." But Zuckerberg had other ideas and soon formed his own online social networking site "Facebook."

The twins sued, Facebook's popularity exploded, "The Social Network" movie won three Oscars and Facebook (FB) went public in May at a valuation of $104 billion -- one of the biggest tech IPOs in history. The rest, shall we say, is history.

[Related: Facebook Effect: How The Social Network Changed the World]

These days the Winklevoss brothers are returning to their social networking roots.

The reportedly $65 million in cash and Facebook stock the twins agreed to late last year as part of their settlement with Zuckerberg has allowed them to launch Winklevoss Capital. The retired Olympic rowers are backing a few hand-picked tech start-ups like SumZero, a 4-year-old social network for professional investors that was founded by their good friend and former partner Divya Narendra (Divya was the third brain behind the "ConnectU" concept).

The twins invested $1 million in SumZero and Cameron Winklevoss says it was just a coincidence that their first venture was a social networking site.

"We didn't really look at SumZero as an investment in a social network," Cameron says in an interview with The Daily Ticker. "It's really more of a financial technology play. It happens to be a social network."

SumZero caters to buy-side analysts in the hedge fund, mutual fund and private equity worlds and its services are open to both U.S. and international investors. The site's 7,500 members post content and recommendations. The "cost" of a membership, says Narendra, "is the time it takes to post research."

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Winklevoss Twins Return to Their Social Networking Roots

20-09-2012 23:21 Highlights of this day in history: President Bill Clinton's grand jury testimony in the Monica Lewinsky scandal aired on TV; Authors HG Wells and Stephen King born; 'Monday Night Football' premieres; Actor-comedian Bill Murray born. (Sept. 21)

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Today in History for September 21st - Video

Are you dreaming of a social enterprise?

At Dreamforce in San Francisco this week, Salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff trotted out executives from companies such as General Electric, Virgin America, Coca-Cola and Burberry to tell their success stories about connecting customers, employees, partners and, yes, even products.

"It's a fundamental change in business," Benioff told the crowd gathered at the Moscone Center, imploring them to get on board with the social revolution.

With the tagline "Touch the Social Enterprise" and boasting a record 95,000 registered attendees, Dreamforce turned out to be a social networking love-fest that featured a meandering interview with Sir Richard Branson and a Red Hot Chili Peppers concert in front of City Hall.

Wielding Salesforce.com tools, CEOs and CIOs professed great returns on investment from enterprise social networking. George Zimmer of Men's Wearhouse said he had spent untold millions on television advertisements courting Baby Boomers but is transforming to social networking to reach Millennials and find out what they like and don't like.

"You're going to like the way Salesforce works, I guarantee it," Zimmer says in a riff on his famous line.

Coca-Cola showed off the power of mobile and the cloud with a "smart" soda machine that connects to customers via a phone and lets them mix and match flavors and share recipes on Facebook.

Then there's CEO Angela Ahrendts of Burberry waving her iPhone to the crowd and predicting that fashion advertising will link up with the mobile phone in scenarios reminiscent of the movie "Minority Report". That is, advertisements on a wall will connect with customers via the smartphone.

Behind the glam, though, the social enterprise isn't a dream come true.

Companies, for instance, talked about using Twitter to connect customers with customer service. When a customer complains on Twitter, someone at the company is listening and can respond. The underlying message: Air your complaints in a public way, and you'll receive help.

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Dreamforce reality check: The social revolution is not for everyone

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Everyone in technology thinks they have the next big thing, but two University of North Florida Seniors might be right.

They launched Open Leaf, an academic social networking site at the beginning of the school year.

"I think one time we programmed for like 27 hours straight. Just lots of coffee," said Co-Founder Eric Nopanen.

Nopanen and James Hamilton didn't waste any time launching their social networking site Open Leaf.

All told, the duo spent more than 800 hours to get the program off the ground.

"My eyes were hurting from programming for so long, I put on sunglasses," he said.

Just 3 weeks in to the school year, the site already has almost 1,000 subscribers.

It's open to any student at any college or university who just wants to learn. It connects people in similar majors to brainstorm, get tutoring, or meet up to study.

"Essentially it's like opening a big virtual classroom to every course around the country," said Hamilton.

"It's just meant for students to connect and share resources, discuss relevant topics," said Nopanen.

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UNF Students launch social networking site

20-09-2012 07:19 Five Talking Points of London Fashion Week 2012 Jess Cartner-Morley and Simon Chilvers look back at London fashion week, the biggest five days in the UK fashion calendar. There were highlights from the Christopher Kane, Mulberry, Burberry and Jonathan Saunders shows; a more significant role in the fashion world for social networking technology; and hints at some new trends

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Five Talking Points of London Fashion Week 2012 - Video