The Web is growing fast and furious with social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook, and Linkedin and much more. At first glance, I think it’s just one more thing to sign up for and babysit, but on another hand, an important ingredient in bringing the Web together.

Almost on a daily basis I am having to explain what it all means to my clients who are mostly Boomer-aged. One of my clients who is about 55ish said, “It’s all creepy. Why would I want to tell everyone what I am doing all the time?” I told her it could be creepy if you got too personal, but use it to your advantage for your business. It can be an avenue to get the word out about your next business shift, change, sale, discount, deadline etc. Another client asked what does a network mean in the social media context. Social media is just that… networking people together online and different social media outlets have different purposes such as Linkedin is for corporate/business networking, and Facebook is mostly used for “friend” connections.

It’s gotten to the point now where one of my clients has hired a contract employee to handle all the online marketing through the use of social media outlets. When she writes her press releases, she delivers it to her entire staff, and her new “Social Media Marketer”. It’s a new position in the business world.

On another social media note, I think it’s important to be discerning about who you add as a friend/connection, or follow or allow to follow you. I noticed that many people gather as many as they can - no matter who they are. With the very little time we all have these days, at least connect with people who have similar interests as you, who you can either learn from or do business with. After all… it shouldn’t be a popularity contest… we’ve graduated from high school already!

In closing, my prediction on social media outlets is only going to grow stronger. They will grow and change - evolving to the tech world we live in. I remember when the Web was really getting on it’s way in the late 90’s, there were a ton of search engines and now it’s paired down to the most successful that have really dominated the Web such as Google. I think the same will happen with social medias… only the most solid will survive, but they won’t go away. Their families will only grow bigger and their offerings refined. You may as well get on board now and flow with the times than get left behind.

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 15th, 2009 at 7:14 pm and is filed under babble, website tips for clients. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.