Not to state the obvious, but social networking is of particular interest to our profession given its access to tapping into communities and building relationships between individuals and organizations. And who can claim more expertise in this area than PR agencies?
The fact of the matter is that these days just about everyone is claiming to be a social media “expert”: advertisers, marketers, search engine optimization specialists, direct marketing companies and independent Web shops. The reason why is simple – the Webis becoming a more accessible and user-friendly platform for community 
building and social networking for everyone; and the work we do as public relations agency interactive practitioners foryears to comewill have to incorporate social networking.
Shel Holtz, the author of Blogging for Business and PR on the Net, argues that social networking capabilities will soon be integrated into every organization’s site:
“For those companies with a large customer base made up partly of enthusiastic fans, why not extend the social network concept to the website at large? The company’s most important customers would be in direct contact with the company, and vice versa, in a way that commenting on blogs could never achieve. Dell could do away with its IdeaStorm because customers would be generating ideas, commenting on them, engaging in conversations with employees about them, and ranking them directly on the site.”
Read full post: Is a corporate website/social network mashup inevitable?
Whether or not Shel is right remains to be seen, but wouldn’t you like your clients to be perceived as ahead of the curve? To find out how, ask YNT.