“Is social media a fad? Or is it the biggest shift since the Industrial Revolution” So begins a brief Socialnomics video densely packed with important statistics regarding the social media revolution.

For example, by 2010 in the US, there will be more Generation Y people than baby boomers, and 96% of them have joined a social network site. Or how about this: “80% of companies are using LinkedIn as their primary tool to find employees.”

Of course, to those already sold on the importance of social media for business, the major question is how to go about using it. The video itself suggests helping people in a friendly way works best. I found the video embedded in an excellent Michel Fortin blog post, where he suggests among other things, “add an element of curiosity, scarcity, or controversy.”

One other thing. I had to stop the video frequently to absorb the fly-by statistics. This may have been tedious, but I think you will find doing this worthwhile if you are like me.

Peter Rubel