The times have definitely changed. Long gone are the days when it could take days to spread the word regarding an event or breaking news. Today’s social networking tools allow for the near instant delivery of information; be that news, gossip, knee-jerk reaction or just-in-time JSON know-how.

Companies embracing social networking can strengthen long term relationships with clients, visitors and even employees. In fact, according to a very recent study, employee morale is increased when social networking is a part of their daily work routine.

Does this mean employee productivity will drop because of Facebook and Twitter? Maybe. Chances are employees will use social networks for their intended purposes. For instance, the resources available online are vast, as any developer or programmer will tell you (at Glacier-Digital, Google is our best friend whilst in development). I don’t know of a single person who hasn’t required the use of a forum post, or a quick IM or Tweet to a colleague in order to solve a problem, get some advise or glean some external knowledge while struggling with an issue. You can’t create in a vacuum.

I’m not suggesting that every company will benefit from adopting the lifestyle that is social networking. I’m just saying it may not necessarily hurt. Assess the needs of your customers and your audience, focus efforts on the most appropriate method of networking. This could be a profession-based network, such as LinkedIn ; a knowledge base network, such as a forum or discussion board; an information and opinion network, such as a blog or Twitter account; or even a casual, informative network with a more active, captive audience such as MySpace or Facebook.

Learning to embrace the tools that the internet has provided (almost all of them being completely free) can be an enormous boon! A socially connected world is already available we get to be a part of it and we get to shape it.