Back in the old days (a year ago) if you wanted to sell a product you would created a web site, optimize it for you keyword phrases, put it up on a host, invite others to build some links into it, and then sit back and wait for the money to roll in. Google might have your web site indexed in 4-6 weeks if you were lucky. Or you could buy an ad from the search engines and hope the money you made from the ad traffic would at least pay for the advertisement.The information that you got then was not real time. The delay between creating and page and others seeing it online could be weeks, months. You searched on a topic and the search engines returned what it could find on those dated pages – or you could follow the links on the pages you did find on the search engine and get the fresh stuff from updated pages and those pages the updated pages to which you linked. Email was the exception, but email has become 99% spam or phish. Politicians in Washington really want to lose and go home this fall – they created a “CAN-SPAM” law that permits spamming.The way we use the internet is changing. The quest today is for access to real-time information using the web. Let’s see an illustration of how this works. Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin and other social networks are now the forces behind this change. You will also see how Google is beginning to adapt to this.Let’s look at an example. An attempt by some city leaders in my own city of Tualatin, OR to build a highway bridge over a local park failed after the citizens rose up in anger. To prevent this from happening again, the local citizens began to put together a local petition to amend the city charter so that the addition of any non-park structure in a public park (buildings, highways, railroads, etc.) must be referred to the voters. The time line for the petition signatures was short.A web site was quickly created and uploaded. I added a link to the web site from my local blog as well a link from another blog I have and also a twitter posting. By the next morning, the blog links I added where there in the search results as well as the web site listing. By the next day, the web site listing was gone (Google sandboxed it), but the blog links were still there. A month and a half later, here are the search results:1. Tualatin voters needed for petition signatures concerning parks.May 31, 2010 … If you live in the incorporated area of Tualatin and you are a registerd voter, we need you sign a petition to save our parks. …www.examiner.com/x-5155-Portland-Christian-Examiner~y2010m5d31-Tualatin-voters-needed-for-peition-signature-concerning-parks – Cached2. Tualatin residents push for parks charter amendmentJun 3, 2010 … According to the group now working under the banner of the Protect Tualatin Parks Prospective City Initiative Petition Committee, …www.portlandtribune.com/news/story.php?story_id… – Cached3. ProtectTualatinParks (protectparks) on TwitterLooking for a place to sign our petition to protect Tualatin Parks. … Protect Tualatin Parks petition drive & hot dog roast – June 12th 1-3 @ Tualatin …twitter.com/protectparks – Cached4. Tualatin eyes charter amendment for parksApr 29, 2010 … Tualatin eyes charter amendment for parks. Residents bring petition that would put major changes to parks in the hands of voters …www.tigardtimes.com/news/story.php?story_id… – Cached5. Tualatin voters needed for petition signatures concerning parks.May 31, 2010 … If you live in the incorporated area of Tualatin and you are a registered voter, we need you to sign a petition to save our parks.image.examiner.com/x-5155-Portland-Christian-Examiner~y2010m5d31-Tualatin-voters-needed-for-peition-signature-concerning-parks – Cached6. Protect Tualatin Parks Initiative Petition and Website www …Jun 3, 2010 … A group of Tualatin citizens today launched an initiative petition drive to protect Tualatin parks from non-park construction or uses …stoptheparkbridge.wordpress.com/…/protect-tualatin-parks-initiative-petition-and-website-www-protecttualatinparks-org/ – Cached7. Protect Tualatin Parks – HomeTualatin Residents Protect Parks. … Please join our efforts to help protect Tualatin parks? What is our group all about? Picture …The top listing is my blog posting, then a newspaper article, then a twitter posting that is now set up to network the volunteers, then a newspaper article, my blog link again, another blog entry that is on another related web site, and then – finally – the listing for the actual web site.It used to be that Google would display two categories of listings: organic (free) and the paid listings. Now there is a third category: links from dynamic blogs, twitter, news articles that represent recent information. All of the top six listings here are from blogs, twitter, or newspapers. The actual web site is not until the seventh item. Most of the top six items will have links to the actual web site.The bottom line here is that even the search engines are recognizing the increasing role of social media. You can take advantage of the social media sites to enable your message to get out faster and reach more people. Contact us if you need help.