At this point in the game, most are using some sort of social media, including Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn (just to name a few). In some cases, users are utilizing all of the above. So what does the future hold for social media?

It’s safe to say that we’ll see continued growth in the number of social sites available. After all, we’ve already seen key players such as Google jump on the bandwagon by launching its own social site, Google Buzz, earlier this month.

Much of the social craze has been led by consumers up till this point, but, in the near future, we’ll witness more businesses adding social media to the overall marketing mix. This is especially important in this day and age, as reviews and word-of-mouth advertising are becoming more significant to businesses. According to eMarketer, “Brand monitoring will increase in sophistication so that companies can begin to understand the ‘why’ of consumer chatter, as well as the who, what and when.”

Even though I can’t predict the future, it doesn’t take a psychic to see that social media will continue to take off. This will impact not only consumers but also businesses for years to come.