The Importance of Social Media

It used to be that a rolodex was your most important asset as a business professional. And that’s still the case, but now it’s called your “social graph.”  This collection of our online connections to our colleagues, friends and business partners is changing how we communicate and the ways in which we consume and produce information. Don’t believe it? Look no further than Google — recently released Real-time and Social Search indicates the significance online networking will play in every Web professional’s business moving forward. Social media, or media developed by those within your social sphere, has changed not only how we interact with friends and colleagues, but also how businesses market themselves and, in some cases, operate entirely. That’s forcing many to change how they think and act on the World Wide Web.

Google is taking personalized search to a new level by adding information from what Google calls your “public social graph” and integrating it into their main search results. Google is taking everything they know about you from your Google profile, determining your connections with people and websites from various social networks, and then producing personalized search results for participants. What this means for SEO is that all of the social media profile building you’ve been engaged in is going to pay off in the near future — and big.

Check out Google’s video about Social Media and how it is already making an impact on search results.