The world of social media has created a fundamental shift in how we communicate. Your web site may still be the center of your marketing universe, but that universe has become a lot more decentralized and smart brands are turning to social media sites as their marketing hub rather than a traditional static site. Social media is not only changing the way people communicate – it is changing the very landscape of Internet marketing.

Your clients, prospects, friends and competitors are on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and even MySpace. They’re blogging and microblogging, posting videos to YouTube and Vimeo, using popular content aggregators such as iGoogle, Netvibes and Squidoo. They are connected on their desktops as well as mobile devices allowing for an unprecedented flow of information all while on the go.

A few points to consider: Number of years to reach 50 million users

Radio – 38 years

Television – 13 years

The Internet – 4 Years

The iPod – 3 years

Facebook added over 100 million users in less than 9 months in 2009 alone.

If Facebook were a country, it would be the fourth largest nation in the world with only China, India and the United States in front of it. Is your brand ready for the future in this new reality?

There can be potential pitfalls everywhere awaiting the unsuspecting businesses that dash into social media unprepared or ill-equiped. Social media is not about going all out trying to sell your widgets or services on these sites. You will immediately turn off even your most dedicated fans. Rather, it’s about engaging people, networking and building relationships. Although it may sound over run with dangers, social media has the potential of being more important to your business than even search engine optimization. For the early adopters, it has certainly proven to be a competitive advantage unlike any other.