I have often been asked if I’m on the social networking site Facebook. I am sometimes embarrassed to admit that I don’t know how. I’m not on multiply (although toysatwork.multiply.com is) ; I don’t even have Friendster. I have a bad time answering text; I am guilty of text shame, where your text gets your foot in your mouth. I hear too many horror stories like when two friends of mine were working together in one company. One resigned and returned the company issued cellphone to HR. The other friend kept texting that phone not knowing that his friend was no longer using it. The subject of the text: complaints and brickbats about the managers of the company. It’s fairly easy to predict what happened next. He is now working in a different company.

Social media like Facebook, Multiply, Friendster, etc. has really changed the way our society relates with one another. I know of one friend who advertises her situation thru Facebook by changing the relationship status. How many of us have heard the answer made popular by Friendster? “It’s complicated”.

One of the new trends happening is business using these forms of social media. I know many young people who get their feet wet in business thru opening an online store using ebay or multiply. But is this really an option for many established businesses. The current recession being felt by businesses in the United States have led to an explosion of the use of social media as a way of cutting down operation or advertising cost.

Jesse Stay and Jason Alba co-wrote a book entitled , “I’m on Facebook---Now What???: How to Get Personal, Business, and Professional Value From facebook.” It is a guide on how to manage your personal and business life on facebook. He provides some interesting tips, especially for businesses to use.

1. Conduct surveys on your products or service –“Click on the "Business" link in the footer of your Facebook account, then click on "Facebook Polls," and you'll soon have access to create your own polls, of which you can target towards certain age groups, interests, and other demographics, and track the results. You can even set a budget of how much you want to spend for the entire Poll. “

2. Research available demographics for your product, service, or location – “Click on "Business" in the footer, then "Facebook Insights." Click the "Get Started" button, and then act as though you are creating a Page or trying to advertise another link. Under the audience tab, you can click around on the various form options, and it will tell you how many people are within that demographic.”

3. Keep in touch with customers – “Click on "see all" next to "Status Updates." On the right-hand side you'll notice a "Subscribe" link - click on that to add your friends' status updates to your RSS Reader and keep in touch with everything they are doing.”

4. Track your Brand – “Use page manager to track valuable stats; the number of visits, gender demographics, page views, etc.”

5. Announce Promotions and New Products – “Post your new services, sale or promotions, or new products and get the viewers talking. This will allow many to preview and discuss generating free publicity.”

It’s amazing how social media is changing the way friendships or relationships are made, kept or broken. I am blown away by how many “online” friends my offline friends have. They are able to discuss what is going on in LA or Vancouver just like we would discuss what happened to the mall today. The world is really getting smaller thru technology and the internet. It is a great opportunity for young people to put their online networking skills to good use by becoming online entreperneurs.

I want to say thank you to Ed for volunteering to register http://www.stirspecialist.com/ . This is now online and will allow readers to catch up with columns that they may have missed. I guess there is no more excuse for me not to get on facebook.

Let’s follow the examples of these ordinary individuals as they strive to make a difference. Each week, lets all get together and share knowledge, stories, experiences, information, all for the sole purpose of getting One Step Up.

For comments, suggestions or stories that you want to share, email me at stirspecialist@gmail.com , or visit http://www.stirspecialist.com/