Thanks, Harry! I appreciate the comment.

I agree with you in that most companies (especially large ones) fail to use social media to build relationships because they use it as a one-way platform. That said, it is entirely possible for organizations or brands to stimulate relationship building on social media. But when it comes to big brands, a lot of them tend to be in it just to be in the space because everyone else is, and not with the goal of connecting in mind.

However, a lot of new companies, especially in the start-up area, are using social media specifically as a way to connect. One of the areas that I’ve noticed this the most lately is the help desk Twitter trend that you see coming along — whereby people are tweeting at companies issues and they’re responding, and I’ve further noticed that some companies are now directing people to use Twitter to alert them of issues. So I’m interested in seeing how the trend continues.

When it really comes down to it, while we realize social media is a potentially great tool we are still trying to figure out how to best use it as part of a marketing mix. But it does have value, even more so today than yesterday — and we’re really learning its value through the use of social influencers who are starting to get to the core of how social media best stimulates two-way communication. I suspect companies will be borrowing strategies (or social real estate) from them more in the future.