Social networking is the future of business

Facebook’s IPO is making history—quickly becoming the technology offering of the decade.

On average, North Americans spend 23% of their online time on social networks, with 300 million photos and videos uploaded daily. Nielsen reports Facebook is the most popular, followed by Blogger, Tumblr, Twitter and LinkedIn.

Advertisers and marketers are ardent fans of Facebook in particular. The site lets companies reach widespread audiences, and understand customer trends.

The site’s even been associated with cultural revolution; a Facebook page contributed to the fall of Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak, and Barak Obama used Facebook to push his campaign.

But, the truth is: this is only the beginning. Jim Hagemann Snabe, co-CEO of SAP, asks us to imagine the potential power of online social networking as businesses fully adopt these platforms.

He says, “Social networking will revolutionize business interactions, just as the Internet revolutionized retailing.”