Like it or not, the Internet is changing, and it is changing fast. This change, however, is in our favor. In favor, that is, of individuals, small businesses, authors, and small presses. Web 2.0 and Social Media are here to stay, and are likely the beginning infrastructure of a fresh, new Internet. So, if you are not using these tools and technologies yet, you may want to ask yourself why.

Don’t worry too much if you are not already in the game. The beauty of this new, live, Web is that it is driven by the people who use it. Unlike today’s Internet, where search engine algorithms ultimately determine a site’s placement, exposure in tomorrow’s Internet will rely more on a site’s popularity among the masses. So, as long as you are incorporating social media optimization alongside your search engine optimization, you can easily catch up—especially if you have a meaningful and sincere message.

The tools available to achieve this type of optimization are numerous and can seem overwhelming, especially if you don’t have even a general understanding of what it is they are supposed to accomplish for you. But once you are armed with this general knowledge, you can choose which tools are the best match for you, your book, or your business.

Wikipedia defines social media as “the online technologies and practices that people use to share opinions, insights, experiences, and perspectives. Social media sites typically use technologies such as blogs, message boards, podcasts, wikis, and vlogs to allow users to interact.”

Additionally, Wikipedia defines Web 2.0 as “refer[ring] to a perceived second-generation of web-based communities and hosted services—such as social-networking sites, wikis and folksonomies—which aim to facilitate collaboration and sharing between users.”

Social media and Web 2.0 optimization, then, mean optimizing your Web presence in three general ways: Interactivity, Sharing, and Collaboration.

Interactivity

Users of the “live” Web expect the information presented to them to be at least somewhat interactive. That is the premise of social media—that media is offered to readers in an interactive way. Social thus, in a word, means interactive, and interactivity can be accomplished in many ways, whether it is allowing readers to comment on the content, share it easily with others, or subscribe to it so they can have it on hand, or display it on their own site.

Some of the tools and technologies you can implement to make your content more interactive include:

• Blogging using WordPress, Blogger, or Typepad
• RSS Feeds (see Feedburner for more information on RSS feeds)
• Podcasting and Vidcasting
• Wikis
• Social Media News (Press) Releases
• Social Media Newsrooms
• Interactive tools such as Snapshots

Sharing

Sharing in the “live” Web can mean offering your content easily to others through blogging indexes and media communities; sharing your Web experience with others by tagging the sites you find interesting on social bookmarking sites; or by actually developing mini applications like widgets or mash-ups that others can use.

The main thing you want to keep in mind here is that media is media is media and it is all sharable. Anything that can be posted to a Web site, be it an image, a piece of text, an audio clip, or a video clip, will have some type of “media community” to share it with.

Here are some of the things you can do to begin “sharing” in the live Web:

• Including your Blog, Podcast, or Vidcast in directories like Technorati, Google Blog Search, Podcast.com, or BlogPulse
• Tagging your favorite blogs and Web sites on social bookmarking sites like Technorati and del.icio.us
• Sharing and tagging your multimedia in Media Communities like Flickr and YouTube.
• Using Collage tools or Webcasting like SplashCast Media or blogTV.
• Creating and distributing Widgets or Mash-ups using services like widgetbox or Yahoo Pipes.

Collaboration

In this new, people-driven Internet, it is not enough to just put your content out there, you also need to be willing to give back. This could mean commenting regularly on other’s content, joining and contributing to a social networking site, contributing to crowd-sourced news sites, or becoming an avatar in a virtual reality. All of these tools can lead to building tremendous social and professional networks.

Specifically, some of these efforts may include:

• Commenting on others blogs. If you do a lot of commenting, a good way to track them is through co.mments.
• Contributing to crowd-sourced news aggregators like reddit, Seybold Knows, Digg, or Fark.
• Creating profiles on social or professional networking sites like LinkedIn, MySpace, or Facebook.
• Participating in microblogs like Twitter or Jaiku
• Posting events in social calendars such as eventful.com, or upcoming.org
• Becoming an avatar in a virtual world like Second Life or There
• Participating in Communities or Forums like a Yahoo group, a Google group, or even starting your own using services like Ning.

However you decide to participate in the live Web, keep in mind that it is ultimately about connecting with people. So to be successful in this new Internet arena, it is important to have a genuine and sincere message. A common mistake businesses make is to attempt to apply old methods to these new tools, and it has been disastrous for many of them. Just keep your message real and conversational and you will do just fine out here…

Have fun!