Yeah, I know, this is a photography blog, but occasionally I post items of personal interest to me and this one certainly qualifies. Not only does it interest me personally, but as a business owner this topic is going to continue to grow in importance and how we understand and address the social mediasphere will dramatically affect our businesses in the future.

So I came across this video with lots of stats on the social media revolution. One of the more interesting tidbits is the part where it touches on how people “find out” about information…. in other words, how do businesses reach the consumer? More and more companies — from the largest Fortune 50s to the mom and pops — are discovering that the traditional top-down advertising campaign where the advertiser can throw enough dollars at a market and virtually guarantee a certain market penetration simply isn’t working any longer. The connectedness of the average consumer combined with the ability for every individual to become a customer evangelist (or beacon of warning) to hundreds or thousands of people via their personal networks on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc., means that the consumer is increasingly having their first contact with a business or product not from any direct communication of the business, but from contacts within their sphere if influence. In a word, socialnomics.

And it’s not just advertising reach we are talking about here, it’s all information. Did you hear a few weeks ago about how Shaq found out that he was being traded from a friend on Twitter? Any old Joe with a phone has never wielded so much power as they do now.

So if you are a business owner, you first have to be asking yourself “how am I communicating with my customer?” But after that the more important, and possibly make-or-break, discovery you need is the answer to the question: “what is my customer saying ABOUT ME?”

Watch…