Social media outlets such as Facebook began as a mechanism for young people to put themselves “out there,” have a little fun, accumulate as many “friends” as possible and enable them to take ownership of something: In this case an electronic platform that serves as a window to their world, a "snapshot" of their lives.

Eventually, organizations began having ah-hah moments, recognizing social media platforms as a ways and means for building and maintaining business relationships—perhaps even to build a consensus to make decisions on the fly. As the social media landscape began to evolve, a growing number of corporations of all types let it be known they had launched a Facebook presence, as well as one on Twitter and LinkedIn. What once seemed novel—social media platforms for business use—became a must-have: You would be considered a neanderthal if you failed to participate in one or all of these social media platforms.

But here's the thing: Are the social media platforms tied to the business world really proving to be compelling difference-makers--or game-changers--in driving the fortunes of business users? Or, it is proving to be no more than a hollow exercise with not much upside, carried out just because everyone else does it? Do business organizations assign teams to track feedback and then accumulate reports for middle and upper management to review?

Our organization was eager to learn the efficacy of such social media platforms during a recently competed survey. The findings that were returned were interesting ones. The majority of respondents use Facebook and Linkedin, and do so in combination with other social networks as YouTube or Twitter.

The survey found that 60% respondents said they joined mostly for personal purposes, while 40% said it was for business purposes. It found that 30% indicated that social networking didn’t enhance in any way their decision making capabilities. Additionally, 65.1% of respondents said they spend less than 15 minutes everyday on their social networks, while 80% indicated they have attended webinars within the last 12 months.

More findings included:

• 68.47% participated in only free seminars;
• 94% don’t own a blog, and 92% don’t post on any blog;
• 83% don’t participate in forums, while 75.86% post in a forum less than once a week.

How does your business methodology compare or contrast with these social network user trends? In our business media world, certainly, we find these platforms as an excellent tool for consensus building--not unlike a public square. Readership surveys are the lifeblood of business-to-business media companies. In essence, social media platforms are able to serve in this fashion, and do so in a very fluid fashion affecting content decisions. 

We have begun posting articles on Facebook to elicit industry responses, perhaps offering a musing on a key industry development. We receive weekly reports internally on Facebook activities, so we do take it seriously. 

We also take seriously several other electronic communication and content-management tools. From our newly redesigned and remastered www.brownfieldrenewal.com we recently upgraded the site not only aesthetically but functionally. This newly-launched blog is one example. We now offer a regularly-updated poll question, and we encourage participation.

Video interviews are also live on the site, and they are candid and revealing thanks to excellent interviewing by John Spizzirri, our roving contributing editor. The video Q & A's will eventually evolve to feature on-demand content, such as seminars from industry conferences.

Webinars are yet another multi-media mechanism that is highly instructive for industry people who lack the time and the corporate budget to travel to conferences. We plan to sponsor those too starting in 2012.

As always, we crave input on the upside and downside of these emerging communication and content delivery channels. Let us know how you feel on some or all of them by visiting facebook@brownfieldrenewal.com and we'll be able to better determine when, where and how we can move the needle forward regarding content management and distribution.