The Future of the Internet, Social Media and Everything! OK, not really. (Small Business E-Commerce Link Digest – March 19, 2010)

I ran across this fascinating list of links looking at 11 ways the Internet will change everything. What, you mean it hasn’t already? Of course, it’s changing everything. It has been for the last decade plus.

In particular, I found Wired editor Kevin Kelly’s section about lifestreaming prescient, in that more of us are making more of ourselves available to more people every day. Which is what leads sites like Salon’s The Big Money to publish fancy-sounding articles like “The Battle for the Soul of Social Media,” which looks at whether businesses should use social media as a “channel” or as “a way of life.” Of course, it asks the question of what customers want it to be…

Still, here’s the pragmatic part. Social is important for your business, because it is changing your customers’ behavior. For instance, eMarketer finds that social fans are more likely to buy. Which is nice, but how do you get more social fans? These tips will help:

• I really love Social Media Examiner. First, they’ve got that quirky background. It’s unquestionably the most distinctive look on the web today. Second, they keep putting up great content like these 5 easy steps to creating reusable social content. Very cool stuff.
• I’m also a fan of Mashable. While they don’t have any quirky backgrounds, they do have great content like their 4 easy ways to engage Facebook fans.
• B2B marketers aren’t left out in the cold on this. Mashable also offers 10 essential social media tips for you, too.
• Finally, one of the best ways to engage your customers in a social dialogue is via your blog. We’ve got our guide to how to build your small business blog. And Freelance Folder has their list of 5 kinds of blog posts that attract clients. Sure, it’s targeted at service providers. But the tips would work well for many types of businesses.

OK, so it’s not the future of the whole Internet. Or even social. But it is something you can put to use today. And that will help you create your own future.

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e-marketing, social, social marketing, social media, social media predictions, social strategy