The internet is ever-changing and it appears that a number of social media sites aren’t content with just being places where people connect, they want to be search engines as well – making it more important that people and companies incorporate social media into their search engine optimization (SEO) campaign.
Practical eCommerce’s Jeff Muendel notes that with Twitter’s recent focus on search, a lot of people are reconsidering what exactly the micro-blogging site is best used for, with an increasing number of people using its search function to find real-time results.
In the same vein, Facebook recently announced it was testing an up-to-the-minute search function and Muendel says that while these sites are unlikely to overtake Google or any other major search engine any time soon, they are adding to the search engine landscape.
To take advantage of this, Muendel says companies should consider search engine optimization when using social media tools like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or any other site and make sure they use appropriate keywords in their posts or links.
"In short, think of Twitter and Facebook not only as social media sites, but also as social search engines," he says.
Twitter appears to be the go-to tool for a growing number of Fortune 100 companies, as a recent report from Burson-Marsteller finds that 54 percent of these firms use the micro-blogging service while 32 percent have a blog and 29 percent have an active fan page on Facebook.
