It's a Living

Thought leader Charlene Li just posted a new presentation, “The Future of Social Networks,” in which she gives more concrete examples that social networking will be as ever-present as “air.” Cool stuff, especially when you consider the there are more than 1 billion people online worldwide, and Facebook is growing by leaps and bounds internationally as well as here in the U.S.

Also chiming in with advice to harness these billions of users, Kevin Rose, founder of Digg and cofounder of Revision3, posted “10 Ways to Increase Your Twitter followers” yesterday on TechCrunch. This web celebrity has more than 88,000 followers on Twitter making him the second-most followed after President Obama. In 2008 Twitter grew by 664% creating an opportunity that any company worth its salt can’t ignore.

But the million-dollar question is: how do we as marketing professionals use these social media tools to drive revenue, or are we forming these relationships simply to give consumers a closer look into what we’re really about? You can’t argue that if nothing else social networks are the ultimate PR tool, giving us yet another way to get the word out and make connections for ourselves and the brands we represent. After what I’m sure were hours of refreshing her Twitter page, this Mashable contributor gets us a bit closer to answering that question. “Top 40 Best Twitter Brands and the People Behind Them” lists companies -- including Dell, JetBlue, Chevrolet, and Starbucks – and great insights into how these mega brands are using Twitter to relate to their audiences. If you needed further evidence that social media is becoming like the “air” we breathe, this list of brands we interact with on a daily basis serve as the proof points.

Oh and while I was drafting this post…Demi Moore started a Twitter account http://twitter.com/mrskutcher. Happy tweeting!