This two-minute, in-your-face video by timetogetsocial gives ten reasons why social media should be on the corporate communications radar.

[Warning: Turn down the volume on your computer before clicking "play."]

To summarize:

#1:  Social media now beats porn and personal email as the #1 online activity. (Nielsen Wire)

#2:  Two-thirds of everyone who uses the Internet uses social media. (Nielsen)

#3:  Social networks now account for 10% of all Internet time. (Nielsen)

#4:  The Internet is the most influential source of information for purchasing decisions. (Weber Shandwick Inline Research)

#5:  Your customers are on the social Web. (Business Week)

#6:  The next 3 billion consumers will access the Internet from a mobile device, creating the "super-fresh" Web which will force brands to engage with their customers.

#7:  If Facebook were a country it would be bigger than the USA, indeed the third-largest in the world. It is on target for a half-billion users by December 2010.

#8:  Twitter is on track for one billion users by 2012.

#9:  One-way (outbound) marketing is over.

#10:  Social media is mostly free. All it costs is time.

Does this mean that your company should be using social media? Not necessarily. Many factors play into that decision, including your marketing goals, who your customers are, and what the rest of your communications plan looks like.

But it does mean that whether you love it or hate it, social media has permanently revolutionized the marketing paradigm. And it means that you're going to need to make deliberate, well-informed decisions about if—and how—to blend social media into the rest of your advertising and communications mix.

Ciao for now!

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