Several years ago I worked in business. I was the assistant controller and material buyer for a factory nearby. Back then the Internet was fairly new and we didn't have Internet access from work. We had internal email but it was very limited.

Even back then I could see what needed to be done. I liked the email, my boss didn't. I wanted to expand it, he wouldn't hear of it. I wanted to use other tools to help us communicate with our vendors, our customers and our main office, halfway across the country. He didn't see any problem with using the phone.

I was boxed in and had to pick up the phone and find the person I needed every time I needed something or whenever there was a problem. Orders were sometimes wrong and all I could say is, "This is what my order form says, either they misunderstood over the phone, or they wrote it down wrong somewhere along the way." If we could send the orders by email this would never have happened.

Now, not only do we have email, we have social networking. Now companies can post issues on their profile pages. Then if their clients, customers or vendors need that information they can just go to the profile page and see it. They don't have to take time to make a phone call or even send an email and wait for a reply.

Also social networking is a great way to keep employees up to date on what's going on in the company. Send group emails to all your employees at once or post something on the blog. It's like writing on the blackboard for the whole class to see.