by Christina Pomoni

Created on: May 16, 2009   Last Updated: May 18, 2009

Consumer demand for instant service has shifted the trend towards online communication. Online social networking users are growing rapidly. Their market share has increased by approximately five times since 2005 8% to 38% today. People are looking to get value out of their social practice and social media is here to offer them a valuable social experience.

Social networking is beneficial for organizations. Particularly, news organizations, innovators by nature, are looking for alternative profitability opportunities via more knowledgeable and productive enterprise solutions that can drive innovation into products faster.

One of the reasons that social networking has attracted so much attention is because it aligns with the organization's aspiration to reach out to broader communities. By offering the enormous potential to operate in a secure interactive environment, social media drive primarily behavioral changes in journalism.

The availability of faster and cheaper Internet access has increased people's connectivity globally. Anyone involved in the news industry knows that connectivity and interactivity in the form of e-mails, blogs, hyperlinks and podcasts is the door to a broader audience.

Today, news organizations become members of existing online communities. With the enormous advancement of technology, the news industry can inform the public instantly, efficiently and interactively using several methods.

Through corporate blogs, news organizations enable community members to comment on the company's marketing and branding strategies in an interactive format that allows instant communication. For instance, the organization may post breaking news the moment they happen and receive instant feedback on its practices from millions of users who will be online at that moment.

By setting up passports accounts in various social networking sites, news organizations extend their branding strategies. Some of the most used social networking sites are Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, Digg, StumbleUpon, Wordpress, Technorati and LinkedIn.

Participating in corporate forums offers the opportunity to interact with other community members who share the same aspirations and face the same challenges. News organizations can measure their influence and develop new strategies so as to attract a larger audience.

Social networking has also its challenges. The first and most difficult step is to identify the audience. Where do people spend time online? There is a plethora

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