It’s hard not to notice the popularity of Facebook, Twitter and other social media gathering spots. In each and every one of those places, brands are being discussed, passionately. Love or hate, real people are talking about recent experiences with brands large and small.

It could be how much they love a product they purchased, how great (or not so great) a recent meal was at a restaurant they went to with their friends. If they had a bad customer service experience, or how much they loved their waiter/waitress.

Regardless, they have become YOUR brand ambassadors to all of their friends and colleagues.

A lot of people are asking me about the value of social media for business to business opportunities. They hear all the hype about SM, but they are having a hard time seeing the benefit of it, especially in that B2B setting.

Here is another great video featuring some very interesting stats on Social Media in business by author Erik Qualman. It also has a cool groove – enjoy!

A recent report published by the Pew Researchers Internet and American Life project has found that now nearly 20% of Americans who are online are using a status updating service such as Twitter. This is almost a doubling over the numbers that previous research has shown as recently as April 2009.