Social media and social networking are hot. After all the hype, what benefits can you get from them, which ones make sense, and how do you get started?

2. Social Networking: More Than Facebook and MySpace craigslist

4. social networks are growing - can you ignore them? Facebook 200 million users worldwide by 4/09 (70% out of US) MySpace 120 million - largest in US

5. Smaller networks are growing too Twitter had 9.8 million unique visitors worldwide in 2/09 LinkedIn means business

6. whom do you want to reach? 5% * 60 million = 3 million 55-65 in US

7. Who uses social networks? Older users and women catching up: Over “60% of Boomers are avid consumers of social media.” J. Owyang, Forrester Research (2/09)

10. Most popular among working age adults

12. Social media invite visitors to a community of commentators including on the commentary. Feed your inner critic Submit and comment on stories, images, videos. Follow what your friends digg. Review restaurants, hotels, stores, new categories. Website rating and recommendation. More than a repository of online video. You can post, rate, comment, share.