The big three social networks for business

With the advent of social networking sites like LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook, Internet usage totally morphed from a serious business medium to a social and fun medium that still means business. Regular people now build technical business applications with mashup (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mashup_(web_application_hybrid)) technology, rather than hiring programmers.

I've been a technology follower from the early days of the Internet, so a few years ago I decided to dive into this new world and check it out (who even heard of blogging or mashups ten years ago). I realized quickly that this new world isn't just for the social life of Gen-Y—it is a sea change for everyone in business, especially startups.

After any earthquake event, the first thing I recommend for anyone to do is to step back, get the lay of the land, and derive some guidelines for getting around efficiently, while avoiding personal injury. Here is a good characterization of the...