Researchers from Gartner find that most companies are missing out on using social networking sites when managing their employees. “Businesses which harness how employees use these sites stand to increase savings, productivity and profits,” said Gartner researcher Jeffrey Mann. “It can lead to better productivity if you can mobilize your people quickly through social networking.” Read more here.

Would you use a social networking site for business? Let us know your thoughts!

Flickr ( http://flickr.com/ ) – One of the largest photo-sharing sites on the planet (and powered by Yahoo), Flickr offers users the ability to host, share, comment upon, print and order merchandise featuring the photos they (and their fellow users) have taken and uploaded to the site.

Flickr is great because you can post pictures easily on your blog or website from events, meetings, products and more!

Twitter ( http://twitter.com/ ) – A cross between a public forum and a private instant-messaging tool, Twitter is compatible across multiple web applications and mobile devices. It’s also, for many users, inexplicably addictive. Many are calling it micro blogging and for those looking for new jobs, it’s the new 140 character resume.

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Facebook ( http://www.facebook.com/ ) – Originally a social network only available to college students, Facebook has since opened its doors to all users, resulting in explosive growth. Facebook’s designers are dedicated to open source code, which allows anyone with a working knowledge of the programming languages used to power Facebook to create applications and widgets that will run within it – essentially, a social programmer’s and marketer’s paradise.

LinkedIn ( http://linkedin.com/ ) – The working professional’s social network, LinkedIn allows coworkers and collaborators to connect with each other online, recommend each other via testimonials, and introduce their colleagues to one another if they don’t already know each other firsthand.

MySpace ( http://myspace.com/ ) – The original trend-setting social network, now owned by FOX/News Corp, perceived privacy and content control issues have caused MySpace to fall out of favor with the more web-savvy Facebook crowd. Recent improvements have returned the site to a more stable, enjoyable atmosphere, but there’s one large reason MySpace will continue to be undeniably relevant regardless of performance issues: their user base is gigantic – it’s perpetually among the top 10 most-frequented websites on the planet. MySpace is also the 2nd largest video hotspot next to YouTube.

To learn more on how to use social networks for business, join us at the Business Smart Tools conference.

YouTube ( http://youtube.com/ ) – The best-known and most highly-trafficked web video site in the world, YouTube is a repository for user-generated videos, classic commercials, music videos and pop culture oddities of all stripes. If it’s ever been committed to video, odds are, it’s on YouTube (legally or not).

Blip ( http://www.blip.tv/ ) – The closest thing the web video world has to an actual “channel,” Blip is home to the web’s budding TV and film moguls. Unlike YouTube, their services are designed for original video creators who intend to produce multiple episodes or videos over a long period of time, rather than arbitrary and unconnected content. Blip’s homepage features a rotating lineup of some of the web’s best original video series, with easy navigation, searchability and subscription options.

Our clients love both of these sites. A good example of creating a video for YouTube where it still conveys the corporate message, go to our client Ruth Ridgeway and learn how she does what does so well! Video here

Meet Zandile Blay, a young woman who used to work for Seventeen Magazine and left to follow her dreams which began with a blog and an idea or two about fashion. Just another example of the power of social media.

User-Generated Content – Any text, audio, video, image or other web content created by a member or user of a site or service. Intended to denote content created by “amateurs,” fans or the general public, rather than paid professionals, it can also apply to content created by literal users of a product or service, such as the commercials created by fans of Doritos that were then aired and voted upon by viewers of the 2007 Super Bowl.

Trackback – The act of citing another person’s blog post within your own, and accrediting the original blogger with having started the conversation. Most blog services allow for automated trackbacks, which then appear in the comment section of the original author’s blog post. Highly popular (or controversial) blog posts will often have dozens of trackbacks, each of which will link to the (other, newer) blog post written by the commenter, allowing for curious readers to follow the conversation in multiple directions (and across multiple websites or blogs).

Many think that creating a blog is just about providing content. This is of course very important but a blog can be worked on many other levels which includes trackbacks which help your message or corporate blog go viral.

Learn more at the Business Smart Tools Conference!

Tags – Similar to keywords, tags are descriptive words or phrases used to aid site visitors and search engines in locating related web content. Most blog and podcast websites provide an editable field that allows submitters of content to add any tags they think will help others find their media. (For example, a video clip of a chili competition in Boston might be tagged “chili,” “food,” “contest,” “Boston,” “beantown,” “Red Sox” and “Patriots,” because even though sports fans may not initially be looking for chili videos, Boston-based sports fans might be interested in the competition if only they knew it existed. When tagging, creativity counts.)

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Social Network – Any web destination built around one or more communities of users, all of whom are interconnected by various levels of familiarity and are therefore able to share information and content with other users, within the limits of varying restrictions. Popular examples include MySpace, Facebook and LinkedIn, although there are innumerable others.

Social networks, when entering the conversations vs. submitting advertising, are great online destinations to find present and future customers. Social networks are a great connection tool for all businesses!

Learn more at the Business Smart Tools Conference!