In 2008 Google stated that is was currently indexing one trillion unique URLs. As of June 2011, it is not uncommon, according to VeriSign and Daileychanges.com, for there to be 150,000 new domains registered in one day – an increase of 21% in just the last two years. No one can be sure where the Internet is going or how big it will be when it gets there.

What we can be sure of, however, is that the Internet will continue to grow and change; it is a vast sea of many voices, all with their own wants, needs and visions. There are voices now that say having a Social Media strategy is useless, and there are those that claim to have all the answers. A Google search on “Social Media Marketing Consultants” produces 74.7 million results. A search on “Search Engine Optimization Expert” yields nearly 21 million results.

I’m so glad we’re blessed with such a plethora of “experts”! I wonder though, can that many really have all the right answers and all the right strategy in such a constantly changing and dynamic environment as the Internet?

There was a time when I could tell you, almost any day, what the hottest graphic card, what of the latest sound cards was awesome, and which was the best processor. These days, if a client asks me a question like that, I’ll tell them to give me a minute or two, and then I’d hop on the Internet, do my research, and be able in a very short time to come back and give them a recommendation. Experience has shown that the recommendation is usually on target, or at least close enough to satisfy the needs of my client. Nevertheless, it is the trends in the Information Technology industry that intrigue me most. 

Someone recently asked me what processor my laptop was using; I had not a clue, and actually had to go to Control Panel and look it up. It’s not just a matter of ignorance, but that I find my mind better occupied with where the Internet is going, what’s the right thing to know about it, what ability to have. I am much more concerned with the trends than the just what’s hot at the moment; since 1986 my truth has been that whatever “is hot” has been a constantly moving thing, ever changing. This is the wonder of the Internet – it is always about change, and whatever is “hot” at the moment will be yesterday’s news tomorrow.

When I was young, about 1971, I use to go by the Hewlett-Packard plant in Tualatin, Oregon. Back then they were considering the ramifications of a “Binary Sequence Generator”. Truth is, I have no clue what a Binary Sequence Generator is, and even Wikipedia tells me that “The page ‘Binary Sequence Generator’ does not exist. You can ask for it to be created, but consider checking the search results,” etcetera. I did know that they had something to do with computers, and then saw ads for calculators, and later printers. We know today what Hewlett-Packard has become.

I had always hoped that I would be in the right place at the right time. To use the example of Hewlett-Packard again, two people, Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard, were at the right time with the right knowledge and the right skills. They formed Hewlett-Packard, and today it is one of the world’s largest information technologies companies in the world.

It’s the trends that matter. It’s staying on top of what is happening now, and trying to imagine where it may go from here. The Internet has always surprised: who would have thought I’d be blogging about Social Media ten years ago? In the meantime it has changed the communication between businesses and consumers at a fundamental level. It has changed this communication from a monologue by business to the customer, to a conversation that is now a two way street. When someone takes advantage, or tries to “pull one over”, the consumers now have power. Take Congressman Weiner, for example. Conversation is two way street, and that’s what you need to understand about Social Media.

The advent of the “Arab Spring” has proven the power of Social Media and the Internet; it is the power to change governments – and lives.

So as a Social Media Consultant, all I can say is “this is how it seems to be working now.” What I told you today will be wrong tomorrow; it is a continuously evolving, ever changing kind of thing.

Whatever Social Media strategy you adopt – and I do hope you adopt one, as one can never hit a target that is not defined – the one thing you can count on is that it will be different in a month or two, a year from now.  

And whichever Social Marketing Consultant you choose, or whose advice you listen to, I hope you find one that is keeping up with trends, for the Internet today is not the Internet of tomorrow, and if you don’t pay attention to this one basic fact, your Social Marketing campaign, while perhaps not completely failing, will not be as near effective as it could be.

In fact, it might be the difference between showing up on Google page one when someone searches for your business, or showing up on page 33, which basically means that your business does not exist for millions of potential new customers.