Social Media really is EVERYWHERE!

MoreVisibility - July 10, 2008

Being that I have been in the SEO/SEM industry for almost 5 years, I am not surprised by how much Social Media has grown. Social Media is being utilized on a daily basis and not just by the savvy searchers who constantly blog or the commonly used networks like MySpace, YouTube and Facebook either. Case in point – I recently spent the day with a friend who has a precocious 7 year old daughter. To put it mildly, this 7 year old has become a social media guru! She now belongs to Club Penguin, which is self-described as “a snow covered virtual online world for kids”. What more could a 7 year old desire?

Disney acquired the social media network in August of 2007. Through this network, kids can purchase virtual clothing, furniture and even pets for their penguins. Kids can play on the site for free; however, certain features, like furnishing an igloo (which becomes essential, of course) and chatting with other penguins will require the parents’ trusty plastic card! Very smart indeed, although my initial reaction was wait just a second, this chatting could certainly go awry if parents are not constantly aware and monitoring the context of the chat. Not to worry, mom and dad! Club Penguin thought of everything. The network was designed with safety in mind and thus, offers what is known as Safe Chat. Safe chat limits what can be chatted back and forth by providing the children with a predefined menu of choices.

Social Media is everywhere! From Blogs, to Press Releases, even to Club Penguin! The fact that a 7 year old belongs to a social networking site is enough to make anyone realize that social media is growing and an integral dimension of the internet today. In addition, keep in mind that there are huge SEO benefits to be gained from social media. The engines love fresh content to crawl on a website. It’s definitely time to jump on the Social Media Bandwagon!