Trends can be useful to ensure that you are ahead of the competition and maintain your competitive edge. The pace of the change in social online networks and how they effect our lives is imposing changes whether we like it or not in how we do business and how we conduct our private and increasingly public lives.6 Digital Social Media Trends You Should Not Ignore

The mainstreaming of social media is permeating every corner of our lives. What used to be private is very public. Generation Y doesn’t know where private belongs and public begins as peoples lives are exposed daily online to the dismay of some and the glee of others.We are increasingly becoming responsible for our own privacy.

Employees become advocates for their companies and consumers create content that adds value to websites, blogs and social media fan sites. This changing digital landscape can work for you or against you. To ensure that it becomes your friend rather than foe it is far better to leap in and ensure that your message is heard above other peoples message about you by actively participating, interacting  and engaging with social media networks.

David Armano and Steve Rubel of Edelman Digital have  produced a slideshare presentation that outlines 6 emerging major trends in digital social media that are well worth noting.

1. Marketing in the Age of Streams

Twitter and Facebook’s  data streams continually feed your friends lives and digital surfing discoveries into your stream to entice you to engage or ignore. How can you use that to market your business?

2. The Googlization of Media: Maintaining a Digitally Visible Business

The majority of companies are still coming to terms with the fact that we Google almost everything yet despite that we still think analog in the work place and advertise in the yellow pages and spend more than 75% of our marketing dollars on mass and non-digital media.

3. The Data Decade: DIY Insights and Situational Awareness

The democratization of the web allows us to use free tools that can place and promote our content on the web with the push of a keyboard key. This enables us to drive our own brand PR and promotion without paying for expensive lobbyists or PR agencies if only you take the time to learn how to use them.

4. Business Becomes Social: Consumers become Co-Creators and Employees become Advocates

I have certainly noticed that peoples comments on this blog add value to other readers that builds content that is extremely valuable and provides insights to participants.  Forums and other social media networks continue to produce crowd sourced content that is valuable and timely.

5. Location, Location, Location: Mobile and Local bring the Digital and Real World Together

Knowing where people are as they engage with social networks can produce some real opportunities for business

6. Private becomes Public

What used to be hidden and buried is now surfacing on social networks. This can be your enemy or your friend. Take advantage and publish and promote your digital brand online.

How are you applying these trends?

Jeff Bullas link to Original story