The holiday season is upon us. Through the hustle and bustle of trying to find the highly unanticipated Zhu Zhu Pet, we all should stop to think about the real meaning of the holidays. It’s a time to get together with friends and family, giving thanks for what we’ve got.

And make no mistake — social networking is giving everyone something to be thankful for this season. This is a win-win situation for both consumers and businesses. The Center for Marketing Research at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth has been putting together findings on social media since 2007. After three years of data collection, the results are quite astounding, especially considering that social networking (in particular) is still considered new by many consumers and businesses. Or is it?

According to this social media study, in 2007, only 27 percent of the Inc. 500 businesses used social networking. In 2008, this number jumped to 49 percent, then to 80 this year. Without comparisons, this may not seem like a big deal, so let’s look at some other social media outlets that businesses were polled on.

For 2007, use of online videos was close to social networking in terms of percentage (24 percent). In 2009, this stat only increased to 36 percent. Blogging went from 19 percent to 45 percent over the same time span. For social media to jump from a small minority to a vast majority in such a short time is (like I said before) quite astounding.

So why are we all winners? Because this same research firm also looked at the success of social media outlets, and, according to the Inc. 500 businesses that were polled, 87 percent stated that social networking is a successful marketing tool. Of course, success in terms of social networking can vary vastly among businesses, but the important thing is that each of them is meeting their unique success metrics.

Success for businesses on social networking platforms means success for consumers. Businesses are finally building a community around their products and services, ultimately helping consumers have a say and creating a better brand experience overall. Sure, kinks still have to be worked out with these programs, but in doing so, businesses are finally listening to what their consumers want.

It’s time to give thanks because social media (specifically social networking) is a way for businesses to communicate with their consumers — and a way for consumers to finally put their loyalty back into the brands and companies they believe in.