I recently posted a discussion on LinkedIn asking how many people first heard about the Hudson River plane crash on Twitter. I had recently written a post on this blog about how I saw the story break on Twitter and was amazed to see the story develop and (and somewhat resolve) in real time on this relative new social media service.
While there were a handful of responses agreeing that Twitter provided an amazing new way to witness news, I was surprised by the number of people who either didn’t understand the gist of my point about Twitter or didn’t know what Twitter was in the first place.
The more you use social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook, the easier it is to think that everyone else is also. The more you get involved, the more you network with others the easier it is to quickly believe that social media has become the norm.
However, step back into the offline world for a moment, it it doesn’t take long to realize that using blogs, Facebook, Twitter, or any of a number of social mediums for business purposes is not the norm. Take a moment and ask your friends or neighbors what social media sites they use. Sure, a couple may enjoy sharing pictures on Facebook and many have LinkedIn profiles but chances are, the majority of them are not actively using these sites for business – yet.
And while these sites are growing fast, there is still time to be an early adopter. Now is the time to not only establish an online presence but to be sure that the presence is up to date. It isn’t enough to have just a “website” today. Customers want to interact, they want information, they want to see a company actively engaged in the community.
By getting in now, you not only learn what is expected online, you can refine your presence or brand and be there waiting as more and more customers join the party.
