Biz Stone, one of the original founders of Twitter, is stepping down in from his day to day role with the company to focus on a new venture with two other Twitter titans, Evan Williams and Jason Goldman. The highly talented trio have resurrected The Obvious Corporation, the company that once spawned Twitter. Stone had this to say about Obvious on his blog: “I'm thrilled to announce that Evan Williams, Jason Goldman and myself will be relaunching The Obvious Corporation as co-founders. Our plan is to develop new projects and work on solving big problems aligned along a simple mission statement: The Obvious Corporation develops systems that help people work together to improve the world.”

…It would be the world’s 3rd largest. I’m sure many of you have seen this video, but I just wanted to take this opportunity to share it with you, in case you haven’t seen this yet. It really speaks to the power of social media, and shows just what a force it has become in recent years. Here are just a few eye-opening facts from this amazing video, aptly titled “Social Media Revolution”:

-Over 50% of the world’s population is under 30 years old

-A new member joins LinkedIn every second

-Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber, and Britney Spears have more Twitter followers than the entire populations of Sweden, Israel, Greece, Chile, North Korea, and Australia

-50% of all Internet traffic in the UK is for Facebook

-Over 37 million people viewed Volkswagen’s Darth Vader Super Bowl ad on YouTube

Over the past few decades technology has improved by leaps and bounds, impacting nearly every aspect of life. As computers and mobile devices continue to evolve, the role technology plays in our lives seems to be increasingly significant. From monitoring the engines in our cars, to helping businesses run more efficiently, technology has permeated and influenced nearly every aspect of human existence. But one aspect that has been tremendously impacted by today’s technology is our ability to communicate with one another. Social media in particular has revolutionized the way we interact with one another, a fact not lost on Apple.

As many of my fellow entrepreneurs begin to use social media to help expand their business and connect with their customers, some will encounter peculiarities that might be confusing at first. One common item you will encounter as you delve deeper into the realm of social networking is the # symbol. The # symbol, which many of you know as the number sign or the pound symbol, is actually known as a hashtag in the digital world. Hashtags are placed in front of keywords to help organize groups or topics. Hashtags make it easier for people to follow conversations, and are used to determine what topics are “trending,” which is another important concept. Trending essentially describes a word or topic that has been tweeted multiple times, i.e. something that is popular. So let’s say its Game 7 of the World Series – the type of topics that you would expect to “trend” well that day would be #baseball or #worldseries. If you tweet something like: “I can’t wait for the #worldseries tonight!” – you would be able to click on #worldseries to see all the other tweets that included that tag – making it easier to connect with those who want to discuss the same topic. Essentially, hashtags help to sort topics, and make them easier to search for.

Social media is quickly emerging as an essential link between customers and the companies and brands they love. Companies are utilizing social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn to communicate directly with millions of consumers, staying connected to their current customers, as well as generating new business. From airlines to grocery stores, companies from nearly every industry are interacting with consumers through the unique platform social media provides. But what companies are making the most out of social media?