Chris Conetzkey: We got three social media experts, each of whom runs a local social media consulting business, on the phone and asked seven hot questions pertaining to their industry and its impact on the business world. Responses to three questions are below. The rest will be released periodically throughout the week on our Web site at www.businessrecord.com. Follow us on Twitter @businessrecord or go to http://tinyurl.com/BRfacebookfan sign up for our Facebook Fan page. When you do, you’ll be sure to get updates when new content is available on our site.

Question 1

Conetzkey: Have you seen any businesses trying to utilize Google Inc.’s social media tool known as Google Buzz, which launched in early February amid controversy that has spilled late into March?

Wright: The extent of what I have seen so far is that when you visit corporate blogs or maybe news sites, you are going to see that as an option of how to share the content with Buzz. But so far that has been the extent of it. That has really been the extent of it, just as another sharing option. It is new, so that is one thing. We are all still trying to figure it out. There were some privacy issues, and I think people were just generally confused about what it is. Someone was describing it as a public platform built into the most private platform, our e-mail, so that really freaked a lot of people out. Google kind of tweaked things right away, but now it remains to be seen.

Glynn: Interesting enough, Nathan and myself were on a panel here a couple of months ago for the American Marketing Association and American Advertising Federation luncheon. And it was just a couple of days after Google Buzz came out. That was one of the first questions: Should we use Google Buzz or should we look at Google Buzz? But I mean Google has made a name for themselves off creating free things that people normally have to pay for, and social media is already free. I just didn’t see it as being a huge hit. Plus you have the older demographic that seems to be growing on social media right now, and they are obviously the slowest to embrace change, and it makes sense that they wouldn’t want to switch over.

Stineman: The few that I think I have seen trying to utilize it are doing so not in a unique way from how they are using Facebook and Twitter. McDonald’s Corp., for example, is doing some of the same things (on Twitter and Facebook) as they are doing over on Google Buzz. I haven’t seen a ton of people that are sort of migrating over there. It almost seems like those that are embracing it at this point seem to be doing so more as a placeholder just in case it takes off.

Question 2

Conetzkey: What are your impressions of the relatively new competition between Google and Facebook? Will one defeat the other, or will they find a way to coexist?

Glynn: I’ve seen a lot of changes in Facebook lately. The fact that it is becoming a little bit more of a search engine – you can search for Web results in the search bar at the top on Facebook. And then Google instituting its beta test for “My Social Circle” – which allows users to search more personal with relevant Web content from your friends and online contacts – as a way to combat that. But I think it kind of goes back to the first question and the comment I made that Google has made a name for itself by creating simple things that people normally have to pay for at no cost or an extremely low cost. I think Google can continue to differentiate itself from Facebook; I just don’t see Facebook being able to compete with Google in that sphere. At the same time, I don’t see Google being able to convince 450 million people that they need to get off Facebook and go to Google.

Stineman: Any viable competitor to the current networks, including Facebook and Twitter, can find a way to coexist. Like with any industry, what is hot today might not be tomorrow. For example, we saw Facebook far surpass MySpace. But Facebook is very successful at adapting to the needs of its users. They have done a great job, especially including the business and organizational industry. So I think the essence of competition is that it benefits the end user. The best product, as is always the case, will always prevail. There is great potential for Google Buzz. If you look at the connection with Gmail and how many of the up-and-coming generation are using Gmail, there is really great potential for it. It is really going to be a matter of whether they adapt as quickly to users’ needs as Facebook has.

Wright: Where they are competing right now is in two areas, as I see it. One, what is driving traffic to Web sites. Lately we have been reading that Facebook is driving more traffic to key Web sites, and by key I mean mainstream media like CNN.com and the Wall Street Journal’s Web site. Facebook is now driving more traffic than Google’s organic search, which is a huge shift and has big implications for Google in terms of how people find content. Although I still think there is room for both. They are different; one is sharing among friends and another is an individual going out and searching. But also they are competing over whom do you trust your ID with online. Facebook wants you to log into every site everywhere using your Facebook credentials. Now Google is playing that game now too by creating Google profiles. They want those pieces to be as important to you as your driver’s license or your phone number or e-mail address. I think they know that this is what people are going to want in the future. So it is a battle of whom do you trust more. Do you trust Facebook or Google more?

Question 3

Conetzkey: Social media have had such a quick rise; Facebook itself launched just six years ago and the first Tweet was sent in 2006. Try if you will to imagine the future, say three to five years from now. How do you think businesses will be using social media?

Stineman: I think that it will continue to become more sophisticated, and that will force companies and all of us to be come more and more creative with our usage. And also it will help us to sort of drill down on the target audiences. I think it will become more and more integrated into every other part of our lives. At some point we might be turning on the television and there will be our Facebook feed or our Twitter feed over on the side. I would love to see more and more integration into the other media that we use.

Wright: Right now “social media” is like a marketing buzzword. It is very important to business. But I think you are going to see that word dissolve a little bit and we’re going to focus back on digital strategy and social media are just going to be a piece of that. I think we are at a point now where there is no debate over whether it is important anymore. But they still need to understand how fast it is shifting. Twitter and Facebook status updates are about what you are doing right now. But we are seeing more and more things – Dopplr, TripIt, Eventbrite – where people are declaring where they are going to be. There is one analyst who calls that the intention web, or things you intend to do, not that you are doing right now but where you are going to be in the future. Right now we are all focused on where we are. So I think you are going to see more and more of that.

Glynn: I see social media as being more of a mobile application. I think people are transitioning to their cell phones more. Laptops are going out of style. I think people are going to start using more of those types of equipment to connect, so I think you are going to see a lot more mobile-based social media applications, things like Foursquare and Stickybits, things that people can do right from their handheld, and I think it will be an interesting transition to see.

See their responses to questions 4-7:

4.) What new tools should businesses be aware of?

5.) Which businesses do a good job utilizing social media?

6.) How should businesses approach advertising with social media?

7.) What common mistake do you see?