As the news, from comScore, that we’re now spending more time socializing on Facebook than searching with Google breaks, I get a message saying “Nicole, you’re starkers in a picture on your wall!” My immediate reaction was one of shock and horror – how could there be an explicit picture on my Facebook wall?! Completely confused and searching frantically on my Facebook account for any photos – even though, for the record, it’s not possible that there are naked pictures of me circulating the internet – I probed and probed; “what pictures are you talking about?”

So after ten minutes of desperate searches, no images appeared. The wall was actually the one in my parents study, not my Facebook ‘wall’ and the picture was when I was barely two showing off my beautiful baby bottom (things have changed since then). Although I was relieved it also got me thinking… when did we become so caught up in the online world? When did a wall immediately mean my Facebook page?

Whilst I think brands have a long way to go in terms of developing their social media strategy, it is with little wonder why more and more are turning to it as another marketing channel. It is an incredibly powerful tool when you consider that 9.9 percent of people’s Web-surfing minutes for the month are spent on Facebook.