Columnist Steve McKee explains why experimenting with free Web tools and using them to promote your company or forge connections makes sense

By Steve McKee

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YouTube (GOOG). Flickr (YHOO). Digg. Metacafe. Stumbleupon. Technorati. Del.icio.us. Kaboodle. Fark. Furl. Swik. Mixx. Are social media tools liking these the future or plainly modern ways to waste time? Can’t we slow this train down?

Unfortunately, we can’t. But if you conceive about it, we put on’t want to either. The Web is a vital source of radically new measure, and it levels the playing field betwixt small businesses and corporate giants. The but problem is keeping up with the pace of its rapid (more would say rabid) advances. Taking advantage of all the Web has to offer is like catheretic your vegetables or acquirement exercise—chiefly of us don’t do enough, and even those that do could always do more.

The first thing I want to encourage you to do is relax. Take a deep power to breathe and release that tightness in your chest. This column isn’privately hither and thither construction you feel stupid for not knowing what Reddit.com is, or chastising you for not having three extra hours a day to spend tweeting and blogging. I simply lack to encourage you to get started. (For background on affable media, damper out this story.)

Activity in this universe has thus far been dominated by innovators and early adopters. But now that the early manhood is getting in the game (with the tardily majority seemly on their heels), the numbers are starting to swell. Facebook, the most popular of the social media sites, has nearly 200 million users worldwide. LinkedIn is like Facebook for professionals, and more than 30 million of us have signed up. (Disclosure: LinkedIn has a partnership with BusinessWeek.com that includes a tool that lets users find LinkedIn connections at companies mentioned in BusinessWeek articles.) And Twitter—not even three years rich—tracks thousands upon thousands of jiffy message "tweets" every day. That spells signifying opportunity—whether your customers live around the world or across the street, you can find a lot of them online.

The biggest intuitional faculty to use social media is that it’s free. You can be a significant player online without laying without in any degree cash, and in this economic environment specie is king more than evermore. It does take time, though, and in business time is coin. But getting up to speed on sociable media is like learning to ride a bike; it’sitting difficult and intimidating at first, but once you get the hang of it you can be in possession of where you require to depart soon—and even enjoy the ride.