As we glide through the final days of '08 the Internet chatter from the web 2.0 apps - Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, et al - is noisy about social media being the buzz use for marketing.

If you aren't up on all the new tools does it make you feel like you are at a party where everyone else belongs to a club you've never joined?

Let's face it...we all only have so much time in a day.  Yes, you can use these various applications to further networking, getting your name out, posting commentary and generating traffic.  How you do it and how much time you can devote to it are important considerations.  I saw an interesting post today by Craig Stolz, In 2009, Social Media Wll Be So Over. He is making the observation that once again the "new thing" will be more of the "accepted" thing as the mainstream absorbs it.

I am, frankly, still getting my feet wet with this stuff.  If you are not utilizing all these tools does not make you obsolete. In fact, a good argument can be made for how these can be major time wasters when you need to knuckle down and pay attention to your top priorities.  But there is some value in using these apps.

At the end of the day the way you connect with people should be based on good service, good services, integrity and purposeful work.  I'm still a strong believer in developing good content with your online sites and having the right tools to parlay that into traffic.  So, again, check out Site Build It (especially before January 5 while the 2-for-1 sale is on).