Social media: From a company's perspective, social media is all about building relationships by first listening to and then participating in online conversations. Social media takes the form of blogs, audio and video podcasts, social networks like Facebook and MySpace, and comments about experiences on sites like Priceline, Travelocity and Amazon.

Here's what companies should know about social media:

• It's about telling, not selling
• It's about relating to a community of like-minded individuals, not targeting a demographic by age, rank and ZIP code
• It's about listening to what people are saying about your company or industry
• It's about becoming a smarter company by opening your eyes and ears to the marketplace

An example:

Technomic Asia, a consulting firm that helps Western companies develop China strategies, launched it's own blog and podcast to help establish thought-leadership on the Web, with the goal of being more visible to potential prospects and China-minded journalists. Mixing these efforts with traditional media relations work, we helped Technomic Asia secure:

• a seven-minute feature story on National Public Radio
• multiple mentions on a prominent China-focused blog
• several appearances on major TV networks
• and more.