Yes Ohno?

He is named after the Greek words "ap," meaning to "steer away from" and "lo," which means "look out, here he comes." If you haven't already heard, Apolo Ohno is an American short track speed skater and eight-time medalist in the Winter Olympics and if you watch any reality television, you may have seen him win Dancing with the Stars in 2007. Not too shabby for someone who's only 27!

Soon after the 2010 Winter Olympics began, I found Ohno on Twitter and began to follow him. It's most definitely really him and not someone working for him posting random facts and news updates. Side note: I discovered that account or no account, anyone can view public tweets! I think it's pretty smart to allow non-users to see what's going on.

As for Ohno's sponsorships, he's gotten them from Coca-Cola, Vick's, Omega, Alaska Airlines and the Washington State Potato Commission. I went to Vick's Web site (or "website" according to AP Style) and typed in "Apolo Ohno" in the search box and revealed no results! So I logged into Facebook and searched for "vicks' and found only a few fake sites under "Vick's NyQuil". And after further research I discovered they do not frequent social networking sites whatsoever! It's interesting they don't do something because if anyone else is like me, when I'm sick, I stay home and spend more time on the internet and social networking sites. Also, many people look up cold remedies and other sicknesses online and they could offer advice, news, etc. It almost makes me crazy thinking about the possibilities and opportunities they are passing up!

Social Media to the Side

While thinking about the ways businesses use social media, I began to wonder why many businesses do not use it. In a world where technology and the World Wide Web point toward the future, it seems that joining in on Facebook, Twitter and other social media giants would be the most commonsensical thing to do. From what I've gathered from research as well as an interview with one of these non-conforming companies, fear of negative feedback and uncertainty of employee reception seem to be the most common reasons businesses are not participating.

A Google.com search under "businesses that do not use social media" found many websites listing reasons why, how to use and other helpful ideas on the use of social media. Very few yielded negative results such as this one which gives reasons businesses should not use social media; however, it maintains social media can be positive if planned and maintained on a regular basis. While many listed websites were opinion-based, the benefits of using social media can be obvious, from the immediacy of getting information to target audiences to positive ideas being spread around the Net.

Twitter has over 100 million active users worldwide, Facebook currently has more than 400 million users and there are countless other websites out there dedicated to social networking. It seems like a no-brainer to find a way into social networking for businesses to create or build relationships with their publics.